


A Journey Anew

by AeonTheDimensionalGirl



Category: Mako Mermaids
Genre: AU after mid-season 2, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Family Drama, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 14:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 31,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14380794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeonTheDimensionalGirl/pseuds/AeonTheDimensionalGirl
Summary: (AU after S2E13). Overwhelmed with the revelation in the merman chamber, Zac runs away from home. However, Veridia, still filled with the quest of getting rid of him, sees this as the perfect excuse to try and kill him. With the police and his parents also looking for him, will his friends find him first, before is too late?





	1. Cold Hard Truth

Zac was running home. Last night… last night had to be the worst possible full moon he ever had. The events that happened in the merman chamber were constantly replaying in his head, as if his own brain was mocking him. He tried desperately to push them off, but…

* * *

 

_“Nerissa had a son… a son that could share visions with her daughter. A connection made possible only through blood” Rita explained to Mimmi and everyone else in the chamber after Veridia had imposed the danger of ‘The Son of Nerissa’ and Mimmi had demanded answers about her mother. Rita looked at Zac, who was standing in front of the pedestal with a confused look, while Mimmi looked shocked._

_“You are that son, Zac. You’ve never been a land boy. You were always a merman”.  When she said those words, Zac’s world came crushing down. Rita’s words felt like a billion daggers had been stuck in his chest; his breathing became heavy as he looked a Mimmi, who was looking at him with a startled face. Time seemed to slow down while he tried to process the information. What happened next was a blur to him: he barely noticed Veridia threatening to kill him and Ondina and Mimmi jumping in his defense. He barely acknowledged that their act had cast them out of the Mako Pod._

_However, there was one thing Zac noticed:_

_“You’re my brother”_

* * *

 

… It was impossible. The more the memory repeated itself, the more Zac wanted to cry and arrive home sooner. He had refused to believe the mermaids; he needed to know it from his parents. The people who raised him. Maybe all of this was just a misunderstanding…

…Right?

Before he knew it, Zac had reached his home. It was early, barely 6:30 or 7:00 am, but he needed to talk with his parents and he prayed that they were awake to get his answers now.

Taking a deep breath he opened the door and was a little relieved that they were both having breakfast.

“Well, you’re up early” Rob Blakely said, surprised.  

“Zac, is something wrong?” Lauren, his mother, asked concerned after seeing Zac’s face.

“Mum, Dad… can we talk?”

“Of course… about what?” Rob asked after exchanging a worried glance to his wife. As the memory of the chamber started again, Zac took another deep breath.

_“Please, let them be wrong”_ he thought before asking:

“Am I… adopted?”

His parent’s eyes widened up. Lauren put a hand in her mouth as she looked at Rob, who had somehow kept a stoic expression.

“Zac… do you mind… if you go to your garage? We will be there in a sec” Rob managed to say. And when he said that, Zac _knew_ it. His worst fears had come true. The little hope that he had about the revelation at the chamber being wrong was _crushed._

He nodded numbly as he made his way to the garage, and this time the memory of last night started to repeat itself faster than before.

Zac opened the door and sat down on one of the couches. His whole body felt numb. He really wanted to cry, to scream. But he didn’t. Instead he waited for his ‘parents’ to come and give a damn explanation.

“Zac?” Lauren said once she and Rob entered the room and sat down at the opposite couch. Zac didn’t look at her.

“Listen, we don’t know how you found out. But…” Rob started to say. Zac glanced at him. His ‘dad’ sighted.

“Yes. You are adopted” he finished saying, his voice breaking at the end. Beside him, Lauren had started to cry. Zac didn’t say anything. He stopped looking at Rob, instead focusing his sight in the table in front of him.

“We were going to tell you when you were old enough” Lauren added quietly. Zac’s breathing became heavier as tears started to form in the corner of his eyes. He angrily blinked them back.

“Zac, please try to understand…” Lauren started to say, but Rob put his hand on her shoulder while giving her a look that clearly said ‘drop it’. He shoots another look at Zac, and it pained him to see his expression. Both him and Lauren got up and left Zac alone.

After they left, Zac got up from his spot. He walked around his room, looking at all the pictures on top of his drawers. Pictures that showed him with his ‘family’, the one he had thought for seventeen years of his life that they were his real parents. Pictures that showed him with Evie, his girlfriend and his friend Cam; doing normal stuff until he got the _tail_.

Zac flinched with the last thought. The tail. His actual true form had never included legs. It was always a tail. It hurt him so much to know the truth. Trembling, Zac leaned against the door, his legs shaking as he sank to the ground. The memories started to haunt him again, the cold hard truth from Lauren and Rob adding itself to the cycle.

_“Never a land boy”_

_“Always a merman”_

_“Son of Nerissa”_

_“You’re my brother”_

_“You are adopted”_

His whole body started to shake. Zac buried his face in his arms while the tears that were threatening to fall earlier appeared again.

He did nothing to stop them this time.


	2. Check

Evie McLaren was known for been a very easy-going girl. Mermaids are real? Sure thing. Your boyfriend has been a merman for a few months? All right. You accidentally gain a tail? Okay. One of your mermaid friends turns out to be your boyfriend’s sister and said boyfriend has never actually been a human being and is adopted? Well… that’s quite a different story. Evie has known Zac since they were six, and dated since they were both fifteen. She instantly knew that the moment he refused the truth about his true parentage, thing were going to be hard. Not just for him, but for everyone else who knew him.

Currently, she was sitting in her Math class; one day after the big reveal. Evie was hardy paying attention, though, and instead had her eyes locked on the door, waiting for Zac to appear (even if it was the last period). She let out an annoyed sigh; she had called him in all her free periods to find herself listening to the answer machine. She wanted to be there for him…

She was so focused that when someone touched her shoulder she nearly jumped out of her chair. Evie turned around to see Cam passing her a little piece of paper.

 ** _“I haven’t seen him all day either”_** it read. After checking that the teacher was not paying attention, she wrote back.

 ** _“I suppose that Erik told you what happened on Saturday”_** through the corner of her eye, she saw Cam make a slight nod.

 ** _“Yeah. My best friend is a fish, and the fish chick is his sister”_** Cam wrote in response.

 ** _“Don’t call them that!”_** Evie angrily replied.

 ** _“Sorry. Yezz, no one can make a joke anymore around here”_** he wrote.

**_ “It's not funny Cam” _ **

“Ms. McLaren. Mr. Mitchell. Would you two be kind enough to pay attention to class?” Ms. Holt said while glaring at the two teenagers behind her glasses.

“Sorry” Cam and Evie mumbled. Ms. Holt turned around to face the board again. Evie looked at Cam and mouthed: ‘We’ll talk later’. He nodded in agreement.

* * *

 

In the meantime, Mimmi, Ondina and Sirena were at the moon pool discussing what to do.

“I want to talk to him” Mimmi said.

“Mimmi, remember what Rita and Evie said, you need to give him time” Sirena said.

“I know Sirena, but… he is my only family now. First I was abandoned by my mother and now that I find out I have a sibling, he just walks out in denial” the brunette said as she started to float.

“And what are Sirena and I? Lobsters?” Ondina asked. Sirena chuckled a bit.

“That’s not what I meant” Mimmi said as she turned to look at her friend.

“I know, but I have to agree with Sirena: give Zac time” Ondina said.

“Since when do you agree with me?” Sirena asked. The other mermaid simply rolled her eyes. Mimmi, afraid that a fight would break out announced that she was out for a swim. And before the other two could protest, she dove and swam away.

* * *

 

“Um… Evie, where are we going?” Cam asked as he followed her across the school and tried not to trip with any of the students that wanted to leave the facility.

“Well, since Zac won’t answer his phone, I’m going to follow another route to find out why he skipped class” Evie said as she headed towards Rita’s office. She knocked.

“Come in” Rita said. She looked up from her papers at her desk to face Evie and Cam.

“I was wondering when you would show up” she said after the later closed the door behind him.

“So… you know what we were going to ask? Honestly is that some kind of mermaid power?” Cam asked. Rita smirked.

“No, but I do have the answer to your unasked question” she said. Both teens sat down at the chairs in front of her, giving Rita all the attention.

“His parents called saying that he was going to skip today because of a family situation” Rita said before sighting. Cam and Evie let out a small ‘Oh’.

“Makes sense” Cam muttered.

“Anyway, I was going to look for you, I need one of you to take this to his house. Just because he is in denial does not give him an excuse to not complete his homework” Rita continued as she handed them a folder with school assignments.

“I’ll do it” Evie said almost immediately. Rita raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Evie put the folder in her bag and left towards Zac’s house.

“You don’t think that’s a good idea, am I right Principal Santos?” Cam asked after giving Rita a look.

“Not at all Cam…” Rita said.

* * *

 

Evie ran as fast as she could to the Blakely residence, not caring that her legs were yelling at her to stop and rest. When she finally arrived, she had to take five minutes to catch her breath before knocking at the door.

“Evie... Did Principal Santos send you?” Lauren greeted her. Evie noticed that she looked tired. She guessed that Lauren had tried to talk with Zac and things weren’t going smoothly.

“Yes” Evie said as she handed Mrs. Blakely the folder with the school assignments.

“Um… can I- can I see him?” she asked. Lauren looked at her for a while.

“Fine. Maybe Zac wants to talk to you” she finally said.

“Thanks” Evie mumbled before she made her way towards Zac’s garage. Once she got there, however, she hesitated. Maybe she shouldn’t bother him and give him more time to think, right? Or maybe she should just burst in and slap him for being an idiot and get his crap together.

Evie brushed those thoughts away. She wanted to check on him, not overwhelm him. She knocked on the door.

“Go away” Zac’s voice came from the other side. Evie’s heart sank. His voice… It sounded… cracked, like he had been crying.

“It’s me” Evie said. She waited for a response.

Nothing.

Sighting, Evie leaned against the door.

“Zac… please, I just came to check on you” she thought for a moment. “And bring you school work” she added. She heard a small chuckle from the other side and was thankful that he was at least listening. A few minutes of silence followed after that.

“So… am I going to have to sing ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’ so I can see you?” Evie asked. This time Zac opened the door with a ‘seriously’ look on his face. Evie then noticed that he had bags under his eyes.

“You haven’t slept well” she said. Zac sighted.

“I haven’t been able to” he admitted.

“Is it because of… what happed on Saturday?” Evie asked warily. Zac didn’t answer, but his face turned grim. Evie realized she shouldn’t have said that.

“You know what? Forget about that! I can fill you in on what happened at school today and-” Evie quickly started to say, but got cut by Zac.

“Evie, please!” he said in a harsh tone. She looked at him sadly.

“Zac…” she started to say as she made a move to take his hand. However, Zac brushed off and stopped looking at her.

“Thank you for checking on me” Zac said in a cold tone. And before Evie could say something, he slammed the door in her face.

 _“Well that went great”_ she thought sarcastically for herself.


	3. Fine (Not fine)

Zac stood in front of his door, his head pressed firmly at the wood as he closed his eyes and tried to process what just happened. He just shouted out his girlfriend. One of his best friends. He didn’t mean to, but the mention of the events of the chamber triggered out all the memories that he had desperately tried to push away… and before Zac knew it, he had pushed Evie away, when she had apologized and had only come to check on him.

“Idiot” he mumbled to himself.

* * *

 

Mimmi was swimming around Mako Island, her mind wandering to her family. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was frustrated. Heck, she was completely mad. Mad at her mother for abandoning her and casually forgetting to mention that she had a brother; mad at Zac for not wanting to accept her and his true parentage; mad at Veridia for apparently knowing this information and hiding it for all the twelve years she lived at the Mako Pod and trying to harm her brother.

The young mermaid sighted as she stopped swimming and lay in some rocks underwater, her face facing the surface. Mimmi could notice that the sun was starting to set, the sunrays reflecting lazily under the water. She smiled a bit; she had always loved when the sun was in this position; it made the ocean seem calm and tranquilizing and she could just relax and think.

 _“Mother… please… if you can hear me, please tell me there was a good reason to separate me from Zac”_ Mimmi thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by someone calling her.

**“Mimmi?”**

The mermaid recognized the voice as Evie’s. She turned to face her.

 **“Hmm?”** Mimmi asked telepathically as all merpeople did to communicate underwater. She then noticed Evie’s sad expression.

 **“Evie, what’s wrong?”** she asked, concerned. Instead of answering, Evie signaled the surface and swam towards to it. Mimmi soon following.

“I went to check on him” Evie said. Mimmi’s heart missed a beat.

“And?” she asked. Evie sighted.

“He shut me out” she said quietly. Mimmi stayed silent.

“I accidentally mentioned the merman chamber and he went Elsa on me” Evie continued.

“Elsa?” Mimmi asked with confusion.

“A character from a movie who shouts people out. But that doesn’t matter right now” Evie said.

“So… he is still in denial” Mimmi concluded. Evie slowly nodded.

“Yes…but I’m worried about him. When I saw him, his voice was cracked and he had bags under his eyes.  He even admitted that he wasn’t sleeping!” Evie said while lifting her arms up in exasperation. She put them down, sighting.

“I wish he would come around” Mimmi whispered.

“We need to give him more time. It’s useless to talk to him right now, not when it does not matter how you try, Saturday’s events come up” Evie said with sadness. Mimmi didn’t answer. She nodded and dove back to the water, heading to the moon pool.

However, halfway there an idea struck her. What if she talked to Zac about their experience with the revelation? He didn’t know she was also hurting from it. Maybe that way he would listen to her and come around. Grinning, she resumed swimming.

* * *

 

The next day, Evie was walking towards her locker while listening to Carly complain about a job interview.

“… And then he told me that a blog is not going to get me anywhere and that if I wanted to be in the intern program I needed ‘experience’ in order to apply” she was saying.

“Maybe you should wait until we graduate and THEN apply, Carly” Evie said as she opened her locker.

“Maybe you’re right, but I really wanted that internship” Carly said. Evie gave her friend a smile, closed her locker and with a wave of her hand headed to her next class.

Once she entered, though, she had a surprise: a familiar muscular boy with tanned skin and black hair was seated in the back of the English classroom, his head looking down at his notebook. Evie walked towards him and sat beside him. He immediately noticed her.

“Hey” she says once her green eyes meet his brown eyes.

“Hey” Zac said back. An awkward silence ensued between them.

“I wanted to apologize” they both end up saying at the same time. Zac and Evie let out a little laugh.

“Sorry for mentioning ‘what shall not be talk about’ yesterday” Evie said.

“Sorry for my reaction. I shouldn’t have acted that way” Zac said. She gave him a little smile. However, she frowned.

“Weren’t you taking a few days off?” she asked. Zac sighted.

“I was, but they-” Evie noticed that he didn’t used the word ‘parents’ “-decided that I needed to get back on my school work and made me come” he said. Evie raised her eyebrows, but before she could say something, the teacher came in and started his lesson. Before she turned her head to pay attention, she could have sworn that Zac’s eyes had become watery.

* * *

 

The rest of the day went on, but Evie couldn’t help to be worried about Zac. He looked fine to everyone around him, giving smiles and little greetings, but she could see that all seemed forced. Evie knew this type of behavior: the famous ‘I-am-fine-and-there-is-nothing-wrong-with-me-when-I’m-actually-a-compleate-train-wreck-of-emotions’. She knew it from experience, and Evie also knew that sooner or later that act would disappear and a bomb would explode.

However she didn’t expect it to happen so soon. It began in Chemistry class. Ms. Trumble had left early to a meeting and thus left the students with the warning to stay there until the bell rang. While some of the students started talking between them, Zac remained quiet. That is, until two certain blond boys took a seat at the same desk he and Evie were sharing.

“So I see that you’re back” Cam said with smile.

“Yeah, I am” Zac answered.

“That’s great! It means that we can finally talk, then” Erik said. Cam and Evie shared a worried glance between them while Zac looked at the other merman confused.

“Talk about what?” Zac asked.

“Your heritage! You are an actual merman! Like me! Don’t you think that’s incredible?” Erik said in a barely contained whisper. Zac’s face paled, while Evie’s became alarmed. One look at them and Cam knew he had to stop Erik from saying anything else.

“Uh… Erik, mate, I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about that right now…” Cam started to say as Zac closed his eyes, trying to remain calm.

_“Never a land boy…”_

Little sweat drops appeared in his temples as the dreadful memory started to hunt him again.

“Why not? It’s in his blood. He can’t run away from it. Plus, if he’s here, it means he is fine now” Erik said, looking at Cam.

_“You are adopted”_

Zac’s breathing became heavy. He felt himself close to a panic attack… or anxiety attack. He didn’t know or cared. He just needed to get out of the classroom.

“Because he doesn’t feel comfortable about it! His whole world came crushing down three days ago! And he didn’t come here willingly either” Evie cut in, glaring at Erik. The three continued bickering, not noticing that Zac had gotten up, his face still pale as a white sheet, and started walking towards the door.

“Zac? Where are you going? We are not supposed to leave yet!” Carly said. Evie, Cam and Erik fell in silence almost immediately. Zac, however, ignored Carly and opened the door and left in a hurry.

“Nice job Erik” Evie muttered before heading in her boyfriends’ direction.


	4. The Breaking Point

After going into a few halls that didn’t lead her to Zac, Evie stopped for a breather while leaning on a pillar. She then noticed him walking towards the school exit with his backpack.

“Zac!” Evie shouted as she ran to catch up to him. He didn’t stop walking.

They were both at the courtyard by now.

“ZAC!” she yelled louder this time. And this time he did stop.

“What’s wrong?” Evie asked once she got close to him. He turned to face her, his face a mixture of anger and sadness.

“What do you think is wrong?” Zac said with a cracked voice. “My mum is not my mum. My dad is not my dad. I don’t know who or where my REAL parents are. I’M NOT EVEN A _REAL_ HUMAN BEING!”

He could feel his eyes becoming watery. He pushed the tears back. Evie looked at him with a mix of worry and pity. Zac looked down, while the need to get out of school got more intense.

“I… I just don’t know who I am anymore” Zac said. And before Evie could say something, he turned around and ran, leaving her behind. He ran past the parking lot, ignoring the calls of the security guard and into the street, towards his house. It was basicly a miracle that a car didn’t run him over as he crossed the streets without looking out.

Once he got to his destination, though, there’s was a surprise waiting for him.

“Hi, Zac” Mimmi said.

The day couldn’t get any worse, right?

* * *

 

“Sirena, have you seen Mimmi? She wasn’t in the moon pool when I woke up” Ondina asked the light blonde mermaid. The two of them were currently in Rita’s Grotto.

“No, she wasn’t there either when I woke up” Sirena answered.

“Huh” was all that Ondina said as she sat down in one the cushions with a frown.

“Maybe she’s swimming, Ondina, there’s nothing to worry about” Sirena said in an effort to calm her down.

“That’s quite funny, because I went looking for her and she wasn’t around the usual swimming area” the mermaid said.

“Then maybe she is taking a walk on land”

However, as soon as the words left Sirena’s mouth, the two girls immediately came to the same conclusion.

“Zac” they both said at the same time. The two quickly left the grotto and went to the living room, where Sirena (who had mastered the use of a phone) dialed Evie’s number.

 _“Hello?”_ Evie’s voice answered.

“Evie… it’s me. Please tell me that you have seen Zac today” Sirena said as she turned the speaker on.

 _“I did. He came to school and left near the end of it because Erik sent him over the edge”_ The mention of Erik raised Ondina’s interest.

“Erik did what?” she asked.

_“He started telling him how awesome was the fact that he wasn’t the only actual merman and that Zac could not deny his heritage”_

Sirena and Ondina shared a look before talking again.

“Evie, we need to talk to Zac. We think Mimmi is going to talk to him and we wanted to warn him so he could brace himself” Sirena said. From the other side of the line they could hear Evie curse.

_“Great. Here’s the problem: when Erik talked to him, Zac went nuts and ran home. I’m pretty sure that if Mimmi gets to him, he is going to explode”_

“This is going to end badly” Sirena said with horrified look.

 _“No kidding”_ Evie said with sarcasm.

“Yeah, but there’s something you don’t get Evie. They are siblings, and when mer-siblings get into a fight, things don’t end up well. If one of them is upset, their power tends to get a bit out of hand. Believe me, I know it from experience” Sirena said.

“We’ll meet you by his house” Ondina added, realizing the urgency of the situation.

 _“I’m already on my way”_ and with that said, both girls hanged the call.

* * *

 

Zac didn’t know what to think right now. First his ‘parents’ made him come to school, then Erik comes to remind him about Saturday’s events and now Mimmi _dares_ to come to talk to him.

“What are you doing here?” Zac demanded. She was taken aback from the response.

“I wanted to talk to you” Mimmi said.

“Well I don’t” he snapped. She bit her lip.

“Zac, please, I know how you feel. You’re angry at our mother and-” but before she could continue, Zac interrupted her.

“Okay, first of all, how DARE you?!” he said in a cold tone. Mimmi looked at him, confused. Zac let out a cold chuckle.

“You actually think that I’m only mad at my supposed mother? You don’t get it, I was raised here thinking that I was a human all my life and then, IT TURNS OUT THAT EVERYTHING THAT I KNEW ABOUT MYSELF WAS WRONG!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW THAT FEELS LIKE?!” Zac yelled. Mimmi didn’t answer. How could she? She knew he had a point.

It was then when Ondina, Sirena and Evie appeared. They had all heard the yelling from the garden.

“Zac, Mimmi” Sirena said, trying to call the siblings’ attention.

“What are you girls doing here?” Mimmi asked.

“Well, we came to prevent you from overwhelming _fish-boy_ here, but it seems that you got ahead of yourself” Ondina said.

“Like that nickname wasn’t enough of a remainder” Zac muttered as he glared at the mermaid.

“Hey, I’m not the one who is neglecting his sister, denying his true form and acting like a complete idiot. Let’s not forget that we lost our place in the pod because we defended you and decided to be an Ungrateful. Stupid. Merman” Ondina said.

That was it. Now everything was a complete mess for Zac. The word that Ondina said had stung him. And to make things worse for him, the memories came back. Tears formed again in his eyes. Zac officially had enough.

“Ondina!” Mimmi said horrified. Evie walked to Zac, who was looking at the floor as tears slowly went down his cheeks.

“Zac?” she asked uncertainly.

“Get out” his voice came out as a whisper, and it sounded hurt, but firm. Evie flinched, but she stayed in her place. When Zac saw that none had moved, he looked up.

“Get out!” he screamed. The girls took a few steps back, but none of them left.

“Zac, please let’s talk about this” Mimmi pleaded. He glared at her.

“I SAID GET OUT!!”

And when he yelled, a strong wind that appeared out of nowhere pushed the girls outside, the three mermaids falling to the grass. Evie, on the other hand, crashed against the fence. She moaned in pain. Zac looked horrified at what he had unintentionally done.

“How could you?” Evie whispered with tears in her eyes.

“I- I didn’t mean to” Zac said. He stared at her; his brown eyes now red from the crying.

“I’m sorry” he whispered. And without warning, Zac closed the door with a loud BANG!

“I hope you are all happy now” Sirena said to Ondina and Mimmi as she helped Evie out. They didn’t say anything. She sighted.

“Let's go to Rita’s”.  None of them complained. The four jumped into the water and left towards their destination.

In the meantime, Zac had fallen on top of his bed, staring at the sealing as the hurtful memories haunted him again and again and more tears rolled down. He couldn’t stand it anymore. Didn’t anyone care that the events on the chamber were affecting him a lot? Didn’t they know that it was impossible to come to terms with the truth in three days? Zac sobbed as he stopped looking at the sealing. It was too much to handle…

Suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

He needed to get away from all.


	5. Runaway

 “WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING?!” an angry Mimmi yelled at Ondina once they dried their tails at Rita’s house.

“What?” Ondina asked pretending to be confused, when in reality she knew what the Canadian mermaid was taking about.

“WHY DID YOU SAID THOSE THINGS TO HIM?!” Mimmi demanded, her fury increasing at Ondina’s facade.

“DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON ME! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO CAME TO TALK TO HIM WHEN YOU KNEW HIM WANS’T READY!” Ondina yelled.

“DON’T YOU DARE CHANGE THE SUBJECT!”

“COME ON! THIS IS MY FAULT AS MUCH AS IS YOUR FAULT!”

“ENOUGH!!” Rita’s voice made itself clear. She stared coldly at the two friends, who had not noticed her presence when they started the yelling contest. Evie and Sirena were seated on one of the couches, watching them with a worried look.

“Now, can someone explain to me what has happened?” Rita asked. None of them answered.

“Very well then, let’s change the subject. Evie-” she said as she stared at her. “What happened at school? The security guard came into my office saying that Zac had run off without permission.”

For the second time in less than an hour, Evie flinched.

“Actually Rita, the reason why Mimmi and Ondina were yelling at each other is tied with that” she said. Rita raised an eyebrow.

“Zac’s adoptive parents made him come to school today, even if he didn’t want to because he didn’t feel ready. My guess is because he wanted to avoid Erik and anyone who reminded him of what happened at the merman chamber” Evie continued to say. She told Rita what happened in Chemistry class, what Zac told her before leaving school and her side of what happened at the Blakely residence, not leaving behind the outburst. When she finished, the older mermaid thanked her and turned her gaze towards Mimmi.

“Mimmi, what’s your side of the story?”

Mimmi looked at the floor.

“I thought that I could talk to him. Not about the events of the chamber, but about our mother… I thought that if I showed him that I was also mad at her maybe we could bond…” she explained. The others just stared at her.

“It obviously didn’t work” she ended saying.

“No kidding” Ondina said.

“You were the one who sent him on the edge” Sirena said almost accusingly. She paused for a moment. “Well, Mimmi and Erik didn’t help either, but the point still stands”

Ondina open up her mouth to reply, but a glare from Rita made her closed it almost immediately. Rita then sighted and looked at the rest of the girls.

“I believe that we can all agree that today’s actions were no good to Zac. He must now be even more emotionally hurt than he was before. Who knows in what kind of state he must be right now”

“Depressed?” Evie guessed.

“The thing is that by the moment, we leave him be. When he’s ready, one of us talks to him. Understood?” Rita continued. The mermaids nodded numbly. Sirena, Ondina and Mimmi left the grotto, diving towards Mako Island; leaving Evie and Rita alone.

“Aren’t you going home?” the high school principal asked.

“In a moment” Evie said.

“You are worried about him, aren’t you?” Rita guessed as she took a seat beside Evie, who nodded.

“I know him too well Rita. I- I’m afraid of what’s going to happen now. He was a ticking bomb, and now he has exploded” Evie said. Rita stayed silent for a while.

“Whatever happens, he is going to need someone he trusts at his side. Zac is not stupid. Even he knows that” she said. Evie nodded, but she still didn’t sound convinced.

“Thanks Rita, but… I have a bad feeling about Zac… something doesn’t feel right”

* * *

 

It took Zac a while to plan his escape. He spent the rest of the afternoon working on it. He waited until Rob and Lauren were asleep so he could start packing, in order to avoid them getting into his room at ten to ask him why he was not in bed and why on earth he was  putting things in his camping backpack. Carefully, Zac also went into the kitchen and got some food. He had already packed water bottles from his mini-fridge too. Going back to his room, he got out three sets of clothes; a sleeping bag; a Swiss army knife that Cam gave him for his thirteen birthday; and a small first aid kit that he had bought after getting the tail, as there were times in which he would accidentally cut himself with a rock or a coral.

Then, Zac needed to find a place to go. He didn’t necessarily want to leave the Gold Coast or Australia: he just wanted to be left alone for a while. It had to be a place none of his friends knew about. After a little thinking, Zac came up with the perfect place. When he was little, he used to be sent to a summer camp, which he hated to go because none of his friends were ever sent there and there had been some mean kids at that place, too. His ‘parents’ stopped sending him over because the camp closed over while they started remodeling the cabins that was never completed and subsequently abandoned. However, during his time at the camp, Zac had found a place near the water that became his personal hideout. He just hoped that it was still there.

He knew that as soon as Rob and Lauren came the next morning to wake him up for school and didn’t find him they would try to contact his friends. His friends would answer that they didn’t know where he was, which would make them go to the police. Zac had watched enough movies and TV shows to know they were going to do just that. He also knew it because that’s how parents react when your child has run away in real life.

As he thought of this, he finished packing. Zac looked for the directions for the ex-camp (thank you Google Maps!), and also went to his bathroom, where he opened up the towel cabinet and got out a stash of money for just in case and a old Nokia that was difficult to track (yes, he was leaving his smart phone). After double checking that he had everything he needed, Zac prepared to get out. However, just as he was about to open the door, someone came into his mind. Evie. This was going to be unfair to her. Zac sighted as he went to his desk and tore out a piece of paper. He wrote a note and stuck it on his pocket.

Zac then opened the door and over the dark street, walking towards his girlfriends house. He got there in record time. He jumped over the fence and went over the garden, where Evie’s bedroom window was positioned. To Zac’s surprise, she was still up. Carefully and as silently as he could, he climbed until he was next to the window and positioned himself in an angle, in which he was still in the dark, but could see and hear what was happening inside. Evie was writing something in her laptop, when her dad came into her room.

“Sweetie, it’s past ten thirty, and you have school tomorrow” Doug said.

“Sure, just let me finish this” she said without looking at him. Her dad frowned.

“Are you okay? You been deadly quiet all afternoon” he said. Evie gave him a small smile.

“I’m just tired. School and life are giving me everything” she said. She gave him a good night kiss. Doug didn’t push the matter and left. Zac watched as Evie got ready for bed (being thankful that she changed in the bathroom, he really didn’t want to violate her intimacy), but before she got to sleep, she saw her phone lying in her desk. After some thinking, Evie grabbed it and dialed Zac’s number. He obviously didn’t pick up, leading her directly to the answer machine.

_“Hey, it’s Zac. I can’t pick up right now, so please leave a message”_

Evie thought for a moment before answering.

“Hi, it’s me. I know that you are mad right now, but… if you want to talk about it with someone, I’ll be right here, okay?”

Zac’s heart sank a bit as she said that. He watched as she got into bed and fell asleep almost immediately, the deep and steady movements of her chest confirming that. Cautiously, he opened up the window and pulled the note out of his pocket and left it on her desk using his telekinesis. He then stared at her for a while, feeling bad having to leave her like that.

“I love you” Zac whispered. He gave Evie one last look before climbing down, and running towards the dock, jumping and disappearing into the water.

He had not been aware that during all this time, a pair of eyes had been watching him from the same water he just dived in.

Erik smiled. Everything was going according to plan.


	6. The Unpleasant Discovery

Erik swam towards the northwest of Mako Island to deliver the news. He surfaced and got his hand out of the water. With a simple flick, he formed an icy cube and threw it a few meters away and proceeded to wait.

“I hope that there’s a good reason to come here at this time” a voice said behind him. Erik turned around to see an older looking mermaid facing him with an expressionless face. Behind her there were two other mermaids, one of them looking a lot like Sirena.

“Veridia, I come with some... interesting news regarding our plan” he said. She stayed silent, a signal Erik took to continue.

“The first step has been completed” he said.

“So fast?” Veridia said with a hint of surprise on her face. He nodded.

“I must say, I didn’t think you could make it work so quickly” she said.

“I’m full of surprises” Erik said.

“Well then, this leaves us on phase two” Veridia said, ignoring Erik’s comment.

“What? You said that you only needed me for phase one and with that our deal was done” Erik said confused. The head of the mermaid council let out a cold laugh.

“You merman are quite stupid. Let me remind you that you came to me asking me to take Ondina back at the pod and you agreed to do anything to make that happen. _That_ was our deal” Veridia said with arrogance in her voice.

“And according to _our_ deal, we only agreed that I had to drive Zac out of his home, away from family and friends. And I partially did, he’s practically in the open sea right now! You never said that I had to do anything else!” Erik argued. Veridia didn’t say anything.

“So? It’s that it? Are you going to admit that I’m right and you are wrong and let Ondina back in the pod?” Erik pushed. Veridia gave him a stern look, and before anyone knew it, an invisible force prevented Erik from breathing properly. The mermaid that looked similar to Sirena stared horrified at her leader.

“I still haven’t finished. You see, I’m pretty sure you remember what I tried to do at the merman chamber. I was furious for not completing my mission, so I spent the next day thinking how to drive the Son of Nerissa out of Mako so I could finish him without anyone getting in my way. And then you came and we struck our deal. And you are going to help me get rid of him. When my deed is done, I’ll put Ondina pack in the pod, am I clear?” Veridia said. She mentally left her hold on Erik’s neck so he could answer.

“I- I understand” he said between raspy breaths. The horrified mermaid let out a silent gasp that thankfully went unnoticed to the other merpeople.

“Good. Now tell me, where did he go?” Veridia said. Erik looked at her.

“I don’t know” he said once he realized he never found out.

“THEN HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO FINISH OUR DEAL?!” Veridia asked furiously.

“Well he didn’t exactly tell me, given the fact that he didn’t see me” Erik replied with sarcasm. The mermaid sent him a glare and raised her hand menacingly.

“But I’ll find out and tell you!” he quickly said.

“You have three days to find out where he is or else…” Veridia left the sentence unfinished as a warning that Erik understood perfectly. Veridia then turned around to look at the two other mermaids that were accompanying her.

“Tamara, Aquata, our business here is done. None of this will be mentioned to any member of the pod” she said.

“Yes Veridia” the two mermaids said, although Aquata’s voice sounded quieter. Veridia cast one colder look at Erik before diving with her companions, leaving the merman alone in the dark waters with only the moon serving as light.

* * *

 

Evie woke up, feeling a bit uneasy and with sore muscles. Growling, she took a bath in the tub that she asked her dad to install after she got her tail and couldn’t use a normal shower anymore. After drying up and changing her clothes, Evie was about to put her laptop in her bag when she noticed a piece of paper in her desk. Frowning because she didn’t have any memory of that being there last night, she picked it up and read it.

It took Evie less than one minute to go completely pale as a ghost when she finished reading the paper’s content.

* * *

 

“Zac? Zac… is time to wake up” Rob Blakely said as he knocked at his adoptive sons’ door. No answer. Sighting impatiently, he opened the door, only to find the room completely empty. The bed was made, everything was in place. Frowning, since he knew that Zac _never_ left the bed done, he went back to the house.

“Lauren? Did Zac leave for school? He was not in his room” Rob said once he entered the kitchen.

“Well, he certainly did not pass at the kitchen for breakfast…” Lauren said. Rob’s frown increased.

“Maybe he went out early” Lauren said when she noticed her husband’s worried frown.

“And leave the bed made?” Rob questioned. Lauren opened her mouth to give a possible explanation, but closed it once she realized her husband had a point. She imitated his frown and she grabbed the phone, dialing a familiar number.

 _“Hello?”_ Cam’s voice came from the other side.

“Cam, it’s Lauren. Have you seen Zac?” she asked.

“Maybe he’s with Evie, Lauren” Rob said, thinking that his wife was crossing the line a bit.

 _“Sorry, I haven’t seen him today, Ms. Blakely. I’m already at school, maybe he’ll-”_ but Cam got suddenly interrupted. The Blakely’s could hear some rushed talking over the phone as they quite hoped that it was their son the one making the interruption.

 _“Rob? Lauren? Are you two still there?”_ Rita Santos voice replaced Cam’s.

“Principal Santos? Um, yes we’re still here” Lauren said while looking at Rob confused and a bit disappointed.

“Is there something wrong? Are Zac’s grades falling again?” Rob asked. Silence came from the other side of the line. Just when Lauren was about to hang, Rita finally spoke.

“Yes, it is about Zac. I don’t know how to break this to you, but… Evie received a note from him in which he explained that he…” the way she sounded it was nearly as something horrible had happened.

“He what? For God’s sake just tell us!” Rob said as a million worst-case scenarios filled his and Lauren’s mind.

“He has run away from home. He’s just… gone”

Rita couldn’t say anything else, because Rob hung up the phone, while his wife fainted.


	7. The Arrival and The Discussion

Zac swam and swam for hours. He didn’t know even what time was right now. He just knew that he needed to swim towards the south. His destination was going to take half of day; at least, that’s what he calculated. It had felt weird having the tail back, now that he knew it was his true form.

After swimming for what seemed to be nine hours, Zac came to a stop. Surfacing, he noticed the sun was starting to rise.

“Must be seven o’clock” he said quietly to himself as he finally realized how much time he had been swimming. He then looked at his surroundings, realizing that there was a beach and a town nearby. A small grin appeared in Zac’s face. He recognized that town. It was where the camp used to take them for ice cream on Fridays. It meant that he had arrived at the right place.

He got to a secluded place in the shore, where he dragged himself on the sand, away from the water, so he could dry himself. Before doing so, he got his backpack out and put it next to him. After getting his legs back, Zac proceeded to dry the backpack. Once he finished, he started to walk towards the town.

* * *

 

Evie, Cam and Rita were currently at the former´s office at school, shortly after the phone call with the Blakely’s.

“Let me see if I get this straight; Zac left you a note in which he stated that he ran away and then he actually did just that” Cam asked.

“Yes, Cam, and if they called you it was because they noticed he wasn’t home” Evie said.

“I can’t believe this. I mean… why would he suddenly do that?” Cam said. Evie didn’t answer. Instead, she got something out of her pocket. It was the note.

**_ Evie, _ **

**_ I’m sorry, but I can’t stand this anymore. People don’t seem to understand how much this is affecting me. I’m going away, I don’t know for how long:  probably as long for me to calm down. I need to think this through without pressure. If anyone wants to communicate with me, I left my phone behind, but I did bring with me a way of communication. It’s untraceable. _ **

**_ You can always find me, though… the seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake. _ **

**_ Please don’t hate me,  _ **

**_ Zac. _ **

 “Did he actually end the note with a reference to _‘The Little Mermaid’_?” Cam asked after reading it. Rita couldn’t help but stare helplessly at him.

“From everything in the note, _that_ is what caught your attention?” Evie said as she got the note back and gave Cam an incredulous face.

“I have selective hearing!” Cam exclaimed in his defense. Evie decided not to argue as she turned to look at Rita.

“Now what do we do?” she asked. Rita thought for a moment.

“We need to talk about this later, at my place after school. And for now no one says anything to the rest of your classmates. I’ll go to check on the Blakely’s to see what they are going to do. Evie, you are going have to break the news to the girls. Am I clear with all of this?” Rita said. The two teens slowly nodded.

“Zac, what have you done?” Rita whispered to herself once Evie and Cam were gone.

* * *

 

Zac walked around the town, taking a few glimpses to the shops as he made his way towards the main entrance. Everything around him was more or less the way he remembered; shops were starting to showcase summer sales and restaurants were promoting concerts and soccer matches.  There were a few differences, just a few new stores, water fountains and public bathrooms.

“Amazing how a few things change” Zac muttered to himself as he compared the place to his previous memories.

He finally reached the main entrance, where there was a mini market and a few other shops. Zac stopped for a moment when he saw the market, debating if he should go in and buy some more supplies for just in case, or just go with what he had. At the end the logical part won and he walked into the market, while keeping his head down to avoid contact with the cameras. Zac knew it was silly, but deep inside he was panicking over the fact that his ‘parents’ would call the police to find him and the security cameras would easily give him away. An old man who sat behind the cashier kept giving him weird looks as he went down the corridors. Zac tried not to give away nervous glimpses to the man.

 _“Damn  it Zac! Stop acting like a criminal on the run”_ he angrily thought for himself as he made his way to the cash register.

“That will be twenty bucks” the old man behind the counter said after viewing the items. Zac paid and after putting the grocery bags into his travel bag, he turned to leave before the old man stopped him.

“Do I know you kid? You seem familiar…” the man said behind him. Zac froze. Bloody hell, the news of his runaway had already started? No. It couldn’t be possible… could it? Did Rob and Lauren started some kind of Facebook account to promote his little adventure and see if anyone could recognize him?

“Kid, you in there?” the voice of the old man brought Zac back to the real world. Trying to act natural, he turned around.

“I don’t think so sir. What gives you the impression?” he asked in the calmest way he could. The man frowned.

“Don’t know, you seem familiar. That’s all. You kind of remind me of a kid who used to come here for the summer about six years ago. Liked to wonder off around the place when the camp in which he was staying came here for ice cream” the old man replied while shrugging. The teens’ eyes widened at the realization. That man actually remembered him, but didn’t completely recognize him. The man, on the other hand, didn’t seem to realize Zac’s expression.

“Really?” Zac brilliantly stuttered. The old man nodded.

“Yeah. He had the same black hair as you… I think his name was… Zeke? Zane? I don’t remember, it started with a Z” the old man said. An awkward silence emerged.

“Oh, well, um… I- I have to go” Zac said after a while. The old man nodded.

“Well then, have a good day mate” he said.

“Yeah. You too” Zac said before exiting.

* * *

 

“Veridia, can we talk?” Aquata asked her leader. Veridia nodded and motioned her companions to leave, leaving the two mermaids completely alone.

“What is it Aquata?” she asked. The mermaid hesitated.

“I- I wanted to talk about what happened yesterday” she said slowly. In a blink, Veridia’s face changed from a nice looking person to a terrifying one.

“I made myself clear that we wouldn’t talk about this” she hissed.

“With any member of the pod, that’s what you said, as I recall” Aquata said while trying to maintain a brave face.

“What do you wish to speak about then?” Veridia asked, knowing that Aquata had a point.

“Why do you wish to get rid of the Son of Nerissa? According to Sirena, he is not a threat” Aquata asked. Veridia cast gave her an irritated look.

“He is a merman and the son of the most powerful mermaid to have ever existed! The power that he holds can only be used to destroy us. He is the only merman in centuries that can control the chamber! Unleash its complete power to eliminate us all!” Veridia said.

“But… he has saved Mako from destruction. According to Sirena, Lyla and Nixie, a land boy tried to use the trident against us and he stopped him. And Mimmi is also the Daughter of Nerissa and you don’t have anything against her” Aquata said. Veridia gave a cold stare. In a flash, she started choking the younger mermaid with her telekinesis.

“Listen to me very carefully Aquata. This merman is a threat to us all and I am going to save all mermaids from him, even if it includes murder. Nothing would stop me from doing that, not even Mimmi, Ondina, Rita or your sister” Veridia said coldly as Aquata desperately tried to free herself as the air ran out of her lungs.

“And now I’m afraid that you can’t share this information with anybody. So consider this your permanent banishment” Veridia finished saying as she focused more energy on the strangling. Aquata, in a rush of adrenaline, managed to focus on her moon ring and send a blast towards her ex-leader. The blast distracted Veridia enough to lose her focus on her telekinesis and free the younger mermaid, who made a run for it as soon as she could. Veridia let out a growl and using her moon ring, started sending deadly blast towards the direction Aquata disappeared, hoping to intercept her and stop her from escaping. In the water, one of the blasts’s hit the young mermaid’s tail, forming a gash. She let out a scream, but thanks to the adrenaline rush, continued and didn’t turn back as she swam towards Mako Island.

She had to warn her sister.


	8. Warning

During all morning, the mermaids did absolutely nothing. Sirena tried to start a conversation between them, but Ondina and Mimmi just glared at each other. Just that, glare. No speaking, no yelling… they just looked at one another with disdain. Sirena eventually gave up and distracted herself working on shell bracelets. In the afternoon, they were still at the moon pool. Ondina and Mimmi were now resting at opposite sides of the pool, while Sirena was resting in between both of them. And the curly blonde mermaid and the dark brunette were still glaring at each other.

At last, Sirena couldn’t keep it anymore.

“Would you two stop looking at each other like a killer whale looks at a white shark, and _talk_?” she pleaded with them.

“I will stop when she admits that she shouldn’t have said those things to Zac” Mimmi said, not breaking eye contact with Ondina.

“I wouldn’t have said those things if you hadn’t decided to go talk to him, even though you knew he wasn’t ready” Ondina snapped back.

“Err… this is not what I meant…” Sirena said, only to be completely ignored.

“That gives you no right Ondina! Even if I haven’t gone, you would still have told him that! You were dying to say those words to him!” Mimmi angrily replied. Ondina didn’t say a word back, finally realizing that her friend had a point. Sirena was about to say something, until she saw a figure coming towards the entrance.

“Evie, what brings you here?” Sirena asked with a smile once said girl broke the surface. However, it was wiped from her face as soon as she saw Evie’s stoic and worried expression.

“We need to talk” she said. The mermaids shared a worried glance.

“About what?” Ondina asked.

“Zac”

Mimmi’s head turned towards her in the blink of an eye.

“Girls… I don’t really know how to break this… especially to you Mimmi” Evie started to say. The girls head titled to the side in confusion.

“Just say it” Sirena said. Evie looked at her, taking a deep breath, she told them. Evie thought she would hesitate, but the words flowed to the point in which she felt that she wasn’t even moving her mouth. When she finished, Mimmi was pale as a white sheet, while Ondina and Sirena were looking at her with wide eyes.

“Rita needs us in the grotto to talk further about this” Evie also blurted without thinking. She immediately regretted it.

“I’m sorry-”

“No, no, it’s okay. We’ll follow” Sirena said as she squished Mimmi’s shoulder. She nodded and dived towards Rita’s house with the others following.

Once arriving and getting their legs back, they found Cam and Rita waiting in the couches.

“What is he doing here?” Ondina asked as she pointed at Cam.

“Friendly remainder that I also happen to know Zac” was Cam’s only response. Ondina huffed and rolled her eyes as she and the other also took a seat. An awkward silence emerged, but it soon was broken by Mimmi.

“Zac- why would Zac do that?” she asked. Evie sighted. If finding out about this was already hard for both her and the Blakely’s, she could only imagine the pain that Mimmi was feeling.

“He left me a note, Mimmi, in which he explained why. Turns out that everything that happened yesterday triggered something in him and he needed to get away from- from us” Evie said, her voice nearly breaking at the end. She got the note out and passed it on for the mermaids to see it. Mimmi went back to being silent, her eyes locked on the stone ground.

“I talked to his parents” Rita said.

“What are they going to do?” Cam asked as he absentmindedly started to play with one of the strings from the cushions.

“Well, when I got there, they had already called the police; one of the officers was talking to them-”

“Police? What are those?” Ondina asked, interrupting Rita.

“People who take care of criminals on land. They also look for missing people” Evie said.

“As I was saying, the Blakely’s were already talking with a police officer when I came in. After some introductions, I told them about the note and that no one in the school knew about this. The officer told them that they would help and that they would announce his little journey in a press conference on the night news” Rita said.

“Why a press conference? It’s not that he is a criminal” Cam said with a frown.

“No, but he IS a minor, Cam. It’s not a crime, but the law states that he needs to be found” Rita explained.

“But Zac basically told Evie that he doesn’t want to be found. According to the note, he has an ‘untraceable form of communicating’, whatever that means” Sirena said as she hold said piece of paper.

“And yet it’s better if the police manage to find him. Who knows if-”

Rita was then interrupted by the sound of water breaking, followed by enormous gasps of air. Everyone got up immediately from their seats and walked towards the water entrance. The six people gasped in a combination of surprise and horror. The once blue water was starting to turn crimson red, the source of said color coming from the tail of a light blonde mermaid laying at the edge of the pool.

“Aquata?!” Sirena screamed as she quickly submerged into the water and lay next to her older sister. In addition to the gash in the tail, Aquata was pale from the blood-loss and she also had some nasty bruises around her neck.

“Sirena?” her sister weakly asked. The others stood there, not knowing how to react. Rita, however, broke off her astonishment and knelt besides the two sisters.

“Mimmi, Ondina, get some towels. Evie, behind on the shelves on the left there is a box. Bring it here. Cam, I need you here” she commanded.

“What happened to you? Who did this?” Sirena was franticly asking Aquata. Her sister was starting to lose consciousness. Before everything went dark for her, she managed to let out a warning:

“Veridia… your merman… friend… danger”

* * *

 

It was five o’clock in the afternoon when Zac finally arrived to the ex-camp. After fighting with the high grass and having a little trouble getting his bearings, he finally managed to find the path towards his secret hideout. Zac carefully avoided slippery rocks and spiky plants as he made his way for about one more hour. Just when the dim light was fading, he stumbled upon a cave entrance. Grinning, and getting out a flashlight, Zac made his way into the cave. After a few minutes in which he had to avoid some bats and spiders, he got to the end of it. This part of the cave was bigger and wider than the rest of it, and in about ten meters it also had a connection to a lake that connected to the ocean. The opening of the cave also seemed to have a roof, which was perfect for Zac.

After eating and drinking a bit, he spread out the sleeping bag. The entire journey had been tiring. The sleep that he had missed in the past few days finally claimed him.

He had the strangest dream _… it didn’t even felt like a dream…_

_There was a young woman with tanned skin and long black hair. She was lying in some rocks by the beach. As Zac approached her, he could see that the woman had a tail and she was singing. The mermaid’s voice was… strangely familiar to Zac. He got closer to her, and he could see that she was holding two babies, both of them with tails. One of them had an orange bronze tail, while the other one had a blue tail._

**_“Hush now, my story, close your eyes and sleep_ **

**_Waltzing the waves, diving the deep…”_ **

_She sang to them with love and kindness. She had a proud spark in her deep blue eyes as she looked at them. Zac couldn’t shake the feeling that this woman was familiar… like some kind of lost memory… and she also bore a resemblance to someone else he knew…_

_“You two are my world” she whispered once she finished singing. She had a Canadian accent… one that was really, really familiar to Zac…_

_The mermaid slipped into the water while being careful with her children, who were fast asleep._

_But just as she was about to dive beneath the waves, someone called her name._

_“NERISSA!”_

_It came from another woman. And whoever the person was, she created a lot of fear in Nerissa’s eyes._


	9. The Lies… and The Life Saving

“Members of the pod, it fills my heart with sorrow to inform you that one of our members, Aquata, is no longer in life among us” Veridia said to the mermaids that surrounded her. Gasps of horror were heard among the oldest maidens of the sea, while cries were heard from the youngest ones. Millions of questions started to follow, from “How?” to “When?” even “Why’s” filled the air. Veridia raised her hand to indicate silence.

“Aquata’s life was taken from her by another creature, one that made sure not the leave any sign of her except for a trail of blood. I watched her be a victim to this unknown creature as she tried to protect me from it” she continued to say to the mermaids, who were unaware of her lies. They didn’t know that Veridia had attacked Aquata, but in return, she did not know about the young mermaid´s escape towards Mako.

“It could have been a rogue shark or orca” one teenage mermaid said.

“But we are not in shark-infested waters! And we would have known if there been orcas around here!” another one said.

“Until now!”

“What if it was a merman?!”

“We would have also noticed. Plus, they are nearly extinct!”

“Has anybody considered a dragon?”

“A dragon?”

“I’ve heard rumors about the Eastern pod…”

Some mermaids continued to debate while others grieved. Veridia ignored all of this. She didn’t care what the other members thought; no one would suspect her of causing this… it wouldn’t be the first time she got away.

* * *

 

“AQUATA! DON’T YOU DIE ON ME!!” Sirena screamed at her unconscious sister. Evie came running with the box that Rita had instructed her to fetch, while Mimmi and Ondina came with towels.

“Spread the towels here girls” Rita instructed. They did as they were told.

“Cam, given the fact that you don’t have tail-”

“Thank you for stating the obvious”

“- grab Aquata by the arms. Sirena, I need you to focus on getting your sister out of the water. Ondina, Mimmi, give her a hand, and be careful with the wound. Evie, in the box there’s a bottle that reads ‘ _Coral Extractum_ ’. Give it to me”

They all worked fast. Cam tried to place the mermaid as gently as possible on the towels. Mimmi held Sirena, who was crying on her shoulder as she watched her sister. Rita opened the bottle and poured the contents on the gash. A substance that looked like goo and in the most hideous shade of yellow made its way on the open wound as if it had a mind of its own. Aquata opened her eyes and screamed in agony, her back jerking while her fins flipped frantically while the teenagers looked horrified. Rita was the only one that kept a straight face.

“Is that supposed to happen?!” Evie asked. Her high school principal only nodded. She then raised her hand and formed a ball of water, which she poured on the mermaid. The screaming stopped almost immediately.

There was a beat.

“What- what was that? What just happen? Is she going to be all right?” Sirena said as she approached her now again unconscious sister. The gash was now an ugly crust.

“That was coral extract. A very rare medicine to cure nasty wounds made by moon rings” Rita said.

“How do you know if a moon ring did this?” Ondina asked. Rita closed her eyes, almost as in a way a painful memory had stricken her.

“It doesn’t matter. But she’ll be fine now. She just needs some rest” she said after a while.

“Well… I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure she won’t appreciate waking up on bloody water” Cam remarked. Before he knew it, there was a blue light and the water was crystal clear. He and Evie turned around surprised to the source, finding it on Mimmi.

“What?” she asked.

“How did you do that?” Evie asked, gaping like a fish while she looked at the water.

“Cleaning spell” she simply said. There were a few minutes of silence (in which Cam helped them put Aquata back on the water) until it was broken by Sirena.

“She said that Veridia did this to her…” she whispered as she held her sisters hand.

“Veridia?  No, that’s impossible! She would never… why would the leader of our pod do this? It’s absurd! You must have heard wrong!” Ondina exclaimed, definitely not believing her.

“It’s true. Cam and I heard her too. And that’s not the only thing she said” Rita told them.

“And what was that? That fairies have sparkling gowns and wings? That there are werewolfs who don’t transform under the full moon? That-” Ondina continued to stupidly guess.

“Ondina, as your best friend, I’m going to ask you for a favor” Mimmi said. Ondina’s head turn to her direction.

“What?”

“Shut up and let them continue” she said. Her friend crossed her arms on her chest and gave her attention to the three people in front of her.

“She said that… Zac is in danger” Cam said. Another silence took over. Evie couldn’t help but sit down with her hands covering her mouth. Mimmi’s face once again gained a pale tone, and little tears seemed to be forming in her eyes.

“Can’t this day stop giving us bad news?” Evie pleaded to no one in particular. Rita looked at her and Mimmi, feeling pity for both of them. She then turned to Sirena.

“Will you stay will her until she wakes up?” she asked. Sirena nodded and accommodated herself besides Aquata, while Mimmi and Ondina got out of the water and dried themselves

“Let’s go upstairs. I think that all of us could use a cup of tea” Rita said.

The little journey to the kitchen was deadly quiet. Ondina and Cam gave worried glances to Evie and Mimmi; they were holding each other for comfort. As Cam helped Rita prepare the beverage, the girls sat on the living room. Evie turned the TV on the news channel, where the Chief of Police was reciting news about new cases.

_“... And that’s all we can tell about the victim. In other news, we were informed that a teenager has run away from home…”_

“They are showing Zac’s case on the TV!” Evie yelled at the kitchen. Cam and Rita came rushing in.

“I will never understand these magic boxes and the obsession land people have with them” Ondina muttered.

_“… Name is Zac Blakely. Here’s a picture of him. He’s seventeen and attends Suncoast High. If anyone has seen him, please call the number below”_

“How will this help? I know Zac, and believe me when I tell you that when he doesn’t want to be found, he is _not_ to be found” Cam said.

“Wherever he went, there comes a moment in which someone would have seen him” Rita said.

“And if the warning that Aquata gave wasn’t just gibberish because of the blood loss, then he is in some serious trouble” Ondina said.

“If Aquata is right then, am I the only one who’s curious about how Veridia found out that Zac-” Mimmi started to say, but she paused without finishing her worry. Her face and eyes got a lost look, staring into nothing.

“Mimmi?” Ondina asked worried.

“I think… I think she’s having a vision” Evie said as she leaned forward.

“How you know?” Rita asked.

“Zac gets the same look” she said. Just then, Mimmi seemed to go back to normal. However, she was shaking.

“Mimmi, what’s wrong? Did you see where he was? Is he okay?” Evie asked with worry.

“I- I didn’t see him, at least, not the _him_ from now… and neither did I” she admitted.

“Then… what did you see? And what did you mean with what you just said?” Ondina asked.

“I saw my mother… holding me and Zac when we were hatchlings… and then… someone called her… and she got scared” Mimmi said.

“And did you recognized that someone?” Rita asked. Mimmi shook her head.

“Call me crazy, but it sounded like… like a younger version of… Veridia”


	10. Aquata’s Story

After that… interesting vision, Rita sent Cam and Evie home. She told Ondina and Mimmi to stay in her house, just in case Veridia was near Mako. After they were gone, the older mermaid sat in her kitchen table, looking worriedly at a photograph. It was the one of her and Harry before he died. Rita sighed as she carefully took of the photo out of its case, revealing another picture. In it, there were two mermaids and her, the three of them young and smiling a bit nervously at the camera.

“Harry, how am I supposed to tell them this?” she asked, knowing that even though she did not have an answer; she hoped that the spirit of her dead fiancé would somehow leave her a sign. Rita sighed once again and left the kitchen towards her room.

* * *

 

Erik watched the news worried. He had two days, _two freaking days_ , to find out where the hell Zac went. If he didn’t, Veridia would kill him. The merman let out a frustrated growl. He shouldn’t have made the deal with Veridia; the witch was basically asking to betray the few friends he had made for the first time in his life. If he helped her and found out where Zac was, Evie would lose her boyfriend and Mimmi her brother. And he, Erik Murdock, would be branded as a traitor by everyone who knew Zac and his fishy life. He himself liked the guy, so why was he doing this again?

Oh yeah, Ondina. The fierce mermaid who had stolen his heart. Erik had felt terrible when Veridia cast her and Mimmi out of the pod for defending Zac. Ondina had confided in him how much Mako meant for her and he decided to try to bring her back into it. And instead he ended up striking a deal with Veridia to give her Zac…so Ondina could go home again.

He sighted.  He really didn’t know what to do.

* * *

 

Cam groaned as he slowly woke up, the sun threatening to leave him just as blind as Daredevil. He turned to face his alarm clock and nearly suffered a heart attack when he looked at it.

“Oh, crap” he muttered. It read ten o’clock. And school had started two hours ago.

He jumped out of the bed, changing clothes, brushing his teeth and picking up his backpack as quick as he could.  Then he made his way downstairs, where his parents were having breakfast like nothing was wrong with the world.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” he asked as he looked of an energy bar.

“Oh, we forgot to tell you. School was cancelled for you and the rest of Zac’s close friends” his dad said. Cam stared, not sure if he heard correctly.

“I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but why?” he asked.

“We received a thousand calls from journalists wanting an interview. Evie, Carly and David too. So we spoke with your high school principal, and she agreed that it was for the best for you not to go for a few days, just until things got a bit settled down” his mum said, giving him a pity-filled face.

“Oh, well… I’m going back to bed” Cam said.

“Wait” his dad stopped him.

“What?” he asked.

“Don’t you want to talk about it? About Zac running away?” his mum softly asked. Cam thought for a moment. Yes, he wanted to, but he couldn’t do that properly in front of his parents. Not without mentioning the ‘Tail Business’.

“Not really” he lied.

“If you want to, you know we’re here” his dad said. Cam nodded. He turned back towards his bedroom, were he collapsed on top of his bed. He layed there for a while, all while thinking what everyone who knew Zac was asking themselves:

_“Where did he go?”_

* * *

 

“No way”

Sirena sighed. After Aquata had finally woken up and filled her up on what happened after she collapsed, she had been trying to convince her older sister to give her a pair of legs so she, Ondina and Mimmi could move her upstairs for better rest. But, like any other mermaid, she was refusing.

“It would be better for you” Mimmi tried to say.

“Why?” Aquata asked.

“Because, because…” the brunette said, while trying to find a way to convince her.

“Because, what if Veridia comes here and sees you?” Ondina said rising an eyebrow.

“Yeah! No one from the pod has come to me to tell me the news that you’re ‘dead’. What if they come and find you here, completely alive?” Sirena backed up. Aquata stayed silent for a while. Finally she sighted.

“Fine” she said with defeat. The mermaid trio smiled in victory. Mimmi left to accommodate one of the spare rooms in the house.

“I’ll get some clothes” Ondina said, remembering how uncomfortable the first leg experience was.

“Can you climb out of the water?” Sirena asked Aquata.

“I think so” she said. However, she gave a yelp of pain once she tried. Aquata’s eyes became watery.  The wound might be healing, but it was still fresh and unbearable.

“Here, let me help you” Sirena said as she grabbed a towel and grabbed her older sister´s arms to avoid getting wet. She pulled her out of the water while Aquata let out a few pain filled hisses, and laid her in the stone floor, just like Cam had done the other day. Ondina came in with the clothes.

“I grabbed some of Rita’s. I didn’t think ours would fit” she said a she put them near the towels.

“All right… you ready?” Sirena asked. Her sister gave her a look.

“No” she mumbled, but it got ignored by her little sister as she pointed her moon ring and concentrated on transforming Aquata’s tail into legs. There was a flash of blue light, and once it faded, it revealed a now human looking Aquata. She stared with some fascination at her legs,  and then focused at the wound Veridia had inflicted. It was now a large crust spreading from her left knee down to her toes. But then she caught Sirena’s smirk and quickly crossed her arms over her bare chest.

“That doesn’t prove anything”

“Aja” Sirena said with the smirk still on her face. She and Ondina helped her put on the clothes that actually fit her and, between a few other hisses of pain (it was hard to walk with  injuries) and learning to use the legs, they guided Aquata to the spare room where Mimmi was waiting. Aquata looked around the room curiously as they layed her in the bed.

“So… here’s were land people sleep?” she asked Mimmi, who was putting a pillow behind her. She nodded.

“It’s… quite comfortable” the older mermaid admitted.

“Well, some like to sleep in the couches when they are exceptionally tired, too” Sirena said. Her sister gave her a confused look.

“What’s a couch?” she asked. Sirena giggled and took a seat beside Aquata and proceeded to explain.

Ondina turned to look at Mimmi, who was gazing at the ocean with a thoughtful face.

“I know that look, what’s on your mind?” she asked.

“Zac… my mother… Veridia” Mimmi replied, not taking her eyes of the ocean. At the mention of Veridia, however, Aquata stopped paying attention to Sirena and turned to look at Mimmi and Ondina.

“There’s more to tell about that” she said.

“You weren’t inventing anything them?” Ondina asked almost accusingly.

“No. I wasn’t” Aquata said with a frown as she gestured with her hands at the healing wound that decorated her leg. Ondina immediately felt guilty.

“We wanted to ask you about it-” Mimmi started to say, but got interrupted at the sound of the doorbell ringing.

“Must be David with the lunch. I ordered more for the five of us” Sirena said as she got up to get it. Once she arrived though, she found Evie and Cam panting at the entrance.

“Let us in!” Cam said as he pushed Sirena out if the way and got into the house, Evie following closely.

“Since you already busted in…” she muttered as she closed the door.

“Sorry about that, Sirena. It’s just that we were being chased by journalists demanding information about Zac” Evie said as she tried to catch her breath.

“In the school?” Sirena asked.

“No, Rita allowed us, Carly and David a few days off to avoid… well, what we just went through” Cam explained.

“I called him and we agreed to come here to wait for your sister to wake up and here the full story about why was she bleeding and the whole ‘Veridia is after Zac’ thing and they literary ambushed us once we left our houses!” Evie continued.

“I have officially found a new profound respect for celebrities” Cam said

“Well, you didn’t waste your time. Aquata is awake, we were about to ask her the same too” Sirena said as she walked past them and guided them into the room in which her sister, Ondina and Mimmi were.

“You gave her legs?” Evie asked a bit surprised as she stared at Aquata, who in turn stared back at Evie and Cam.

“They know?!” she asked Sirena almost accusingly. She gave her older sister a smug smile.

“Yeah…”

“But there’s a good reason behind it!” Evie said before an argument broke loose.

“Explain” Aquata demanded. Evie gave the other mermaids and Cam a look that clearly said ‘Help!’

“Well…uh, when Zac found out he had become a merman, he turned to me… because I’m his best friend…” Cam started.

“… And then, after a few problems with the trident… not much longer after you visited to take me back to the pod…”

“There was a struggle; someone got hurt… there was some jealousy…”

“… I was suspicious about what was going on and became aware of the mermaid/merman secret because Cam and Nixie wanted the trident back after putting it back in its resting place…”

“…Because Nixie didn’t trust Zac and I was a power hungry idiot who wanted the power for myself and there was a big fight between all of us and Zac helped Sirena, Lyla and Nixie save Mako from me…”

“That’s when we came to the pod explaining why Zac wasn’t a threat…”

“… We didn’t believe them…”

“… And Evie accidentally became a mermaid because Mimmi and I thought we could strip him out his powers… We were wrong about that…”

“… And that pretty much is it”

They all told the story in bits that it had been confusing to anyone else who anyone who didn’t know about their secret lives. Fortunately, Aquata got it all. She stayed a few minutes silent, eyeing Cam and Evie.

“All right”

Both teens let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding.

“So… are you going to tell us what happened?” Mimmi asked. Aquata let out a shiver.

“I guess I should start from the beginning, then” she said. Everyone took a seat, giving the mermaid all of their attention.

“I don’t know all the details, but… Veridia somehow found out that your merman friend-”

“Zac”

“Zac, yes; she somehow found out that he was the Son of Nerissa. Veridia only shared this information with all the oldest mermaids. She went to the land to destroy him, but didn’t succed. She came back to the pod, with the news that Mimmi and Ondina were now considered outcasts” Aquata explained.

“Yeah, but what did you do for her to attack you?” Evie asked.

“I was getting there. I’m not sure exactly when or how it happened, but Veridia came in contact with another merman, who wanted something from her. In exchange, she told him that she wanted something from him” she explained.

“Another merman?” Mimmi repeated. Aquata nodded.

“Yes. Two days ago, he came to inform her that his step was completed and wanted her part of the deal done. She refused, saying that he wasn’t finished yet. There were some threats and she told him that he only had three days to tell her where Zac went, so she could finish him off. I was feeling uneasy about Veridia wanting to kill your friend, especially after what Lyla, Nixie and Sirena told me he had done for Mako, so I tried to talk some sense into her to avoid bloodshed, but…”

“She ended attacking you” Ondina finished for her once she was unable to continue.

“Exactly, and to make things worse, she says that one will stand in her way, none of you and Rita” Aquata said.

“Well… that’s a very big problem” Cam said.

“No kidding” Ondina snapped at him. Mimmi looked at Aquata.

“You said that a merman was giving this information to Veridia. Did you learn his name?” she asked. Aquata was about to give her an answer, but then she noticed someone leaning against the door frame of the room. Noticing her stare, the others turned around to see who it was.

“Him” Aquata whispered.

“She never really learned my name” Erik said sheepishly.


	11. The threat

A deadly silence had taken over the room. Everyone stared at Erik and he stared at them in return. Time had seemed to stop.

The silence was finally broken by the steps of Mimmi walking slowly towards the merman. Once she was at a relatively short distance from him, she locked her dark blue eyes into his clear blue eyes.

There was a beat.

SLAP!

Erik’s hand went to smother the burning sensation on his right cheek as he stared with shock at the mermaid, who still had her hand raised, almost as if she was debating if it was a good idea to repeat the action. The others were watching with a similar combination of shock, Evie herself debating if she should do the same to him for being an idiot.

“How. Dare. You?” Mimmi hissed. Erik stayed silent, still shocked over the fact that Mimmi, sweet Mimmi, was talking like that to him. To be rather honest, he actually thought _Ondina_ would be the one to deliver a painful blow.

“Mimmi!” Ondina said in shock as she quickly walked towards her friend to possibly avoid something else. She looked at Erik.

“Is it true? You- you went with Veridia?” Ondina whispered in a tone that indicated that she didn’t want to believe it. Erik slowly nodded in confirmation.

There was another beat…

…and just when Erik was about to say something…

SLAP!

Another burning sensation to the face. And this time, _it was_ Ondina the cause of it.

The merman didn’t even try to calm the pain of that one.

Before anyone could say something (or slap Erik again), Cam came in between the two mermaids and the merman.

“All right, I’m pretty sure we all want to hear Erik’s version of the story, so how about we let him talk and stop this from becoming a soap opera? Or worse… a Spanish telenovela” he said in a somehow friendly tone despite the circumstances. Mimmi and Ondina backed off and sat in the bed with Sirena and Aquata. Cam went to lean at the wall, but not before shooting Erik a look that said ‘You better convince me to take pity on you or so help me’.

Erik took a deep breath.

“I- I know what you guys are thinking. But… I had a good reason to go to Veridia” he looked at Ondina. “You always told me how important Mako and the pod was to you and when you got banished… the look on your face Ondina, it was terrible. And you were also furious with me for going behind your back and taking Zac to the merman chamber instead of keeping him away from it and- and I thought that if I got your place in the pod restored… you would forgive me” Erik said, shifting a bit uncomfortably on his spot.

“So I… after you guys left, I went to talk to Veridia. I followed her, thinking that I could convince her to bring you back at the pod, and she agreed… under the condition that I would help her drive Zac out off the Gold Coast” he finished.

“The rest, you already know it from her” he also added while pointing at Aquata.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence in which no one dared to say a word and they let the new information from Erik sink in.

“Erik, I understand the reason you had when it came to looking for Veridia, but what I don’t understand, is why did you agree to help her” Evie said, breaking the silence. He looked at her.

“I don’t understand” he said, confusion evident in his voice.

“You could have backed away as soon as Zac was brought into your little agreement! Didn’t you even suspect from the beginning that Veridia would ask you to something like that?” she asked accusingly.

“She’s right there” Ondina said.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly, all right?! Don’t you think I thought about it too? After moving around all my life, I pop out here and I actually find real friends!” Erik snapped.

“I never thought she will make me help her give the directions to Zac! The moment I realized she wanted Zac dead, I tried to back away from the deal, and guess what? She threatened to kill me!” he continued to shout.

“What’s going on here?”

Rita’s voice made herself know to the people in the room. Erik turned around to come face to face with the older mermaid.

“Principal Santos, I-” Erik struggled to find the words.

“You know, for the first time since last year, I would really like to come home and find a bit of a quiet evening with no drama going around” Rita said as she walked past him and took a seat in a chair near by the bed. She took notice of Aquata.

“Good to know you’re awake. How are you feeling?” she asked.

“A bit better. Sirena told me you healed me, thank you” Aquata said.

“No problem” Rita said. She then turned to look at the others. “Well then? Is anyone going to explain to me what’s going on now?”

Cam proceeded to explain and, once he was done, Rita was silent for a few seconds.

“Erik, although what you did you did it for Ondina, and I consider it something very noble, you should have known better before you went to Veridia” Rita said to the merman.

“I know” he said, hanging his head in shame.

“Wait, Erik, why did you come here anyway?” Mimmi asked.

“I- I didn’t know what to do. Today’s the day that I’m supposed to tell Veridia were Zac is, and- and what I did, what I agreed to do has been eating me alive since I swam away from that meeting” Erik admitted.

“In other words, you came for redemption” Sirena guessed. Erik slowly nodded.

“Oh, well isn’t this lovely” a cold voice came from the door. Everyone in the room jumped in fright. The cold voice laughed, but its origin was not visible to them.

“Veridia?” Rita whispered, standing up. The laughter came again, and this time its owner appeared. Veridia became visible in the center of the room. Aquata cringed behind Sirena, who spread her arms behind her older sister. Cam and Evie put Erik behind them.

“Well then Aquata, turns out you escaped. It seems I have misinformed the pod about your current status” Veridia said while she look at the mermaid with a murderous look.

“Veridia, what are you doing here?” Rita asked, trying to divert the head of the mermaid counsel’s attention from the teenagers and Aquata towards her.

“Well, Rita dear, I came here with the intention to inform dear Sirena of her sisters ‘death’, but to my surprise, I end up finding out that she has revealed my little plan” Veridia said with a cruel smile on her lips.

“And not only that, the love-struck idiotic merman is here too! Even better! I hope you have what I asked you” she added. Erik simply glared.

“Tsk, tsk, I suppose that’s a no” Veridia said while shaking her head.

“Veridia, please, Zac is no harm to mermaids. He’s only a kid!” Rita pleaded.

“Rita, you and Nerissa always had the tendency to say that” Veridia said after sighting.

“Nerissa? Why does my mother fit into this again?” Mimmi asked. But she got no answer from the two mermaids, who were now glaring daggers at each other.

“You won’t find out where he is” Rita said.

“Oh, really? And how’s that?” Veridia dared. She took a look at Evie and Cam before smiling.

“You two might be able to help me” she said in a creepy sweat voice.

“Veridia-” Rita warned, but her former friend made a movement with her hand and Rita, Mimmi, Ondina, Aquata, Sirena and Erik found themselves frozen in their spots as Cam and Evie watched with wide eye fear.

“Very well then, do any of you two can tell me where did the merman go?” Veridia asked.

“We- we don’t know where he went!” Cam said.

“Liar!” Veridia roared as she delivered a painful blow to the boy’s stomach.

“No! He’s telling the truth!” Evie said desperately.

“And I suppose you don’t know either?” Veridia asked her. Evie shook her head so fiercely that she almost got whiplash.

“Well then, desperate times call for desperate measures” Veridia said as she also put Evie under the binding spell. She grabbed Cam’s face and forced him to look at her. She then opened her mouth and started to sing:

_“Would you come with me?_

_We’ll swim the deep blue sea…_

_Ahh, ahh, ahh…”_

Cam’s eyes became unfocused, which pleased Veridia.

“Good. Now tell me, do you know how I could find Zac?” she asked in sweet tone. Without her knowing, Rita was slowly managing to get out of her telepathic hold on her.

“There’s a police search… you could ask them…” Cam said dreamy as he looked at Veridia, unaware that he had been placed in an Enchantment Song.

“A police search? And would you please tell me how to get to them?”

“There’s a station not very far away from here… it’s a five minute walk…” Cam continued to say.

“Good boy! Now do me a favor and get away from my sight” Veridia commanded as she got up.

“How do you wish for me to do that?” Cam asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. There’s a pool of water downstairs, drown yourself in it” she said in a ‘I really don’t care’ manner. Cam started walking towards the entrance of the grotto, while Veridia looked at Erik.

“Given that you failed me, a dead is a deal” she said as she pointed her moon ring at him.

“NO!” Rita yelled as she broke free of her biding spell. With a flick of her wrist she made Cam stop and with another one, she pushed Erik out of Veridia’s way just as a beam of red light came out of the moon ring and left a burnt mark in the wall. The failed shot somehow broke the binding spell on everyone else. Evie and Mimmi rushed to stop Cam, who had gotten up again and started running  towards the entrance to the grotto. Ondina, Sirena and Rita stood behind Aquata, while Erik struggled to get up.

“Enough Veridia! You won’t go after Zac Blakely!” Rita declared.

“Idiots! You think you can stop me? I’m doing you all a favor by getting rid of that merman scum!” Veridia yelled. From behind her, Erik had gotten up and grabbed a vase and just when he was about to slam it on Veridia’s head, she turned around and, using her telekinesis, started to choke him.

“NO! VERIDIA, STOP!” Ondina yelled with tears starting to form at her eyes. She pointed her moon ring at her ex-leader and sent a blast at her. Veridia, however, deflected it. Behind her, Erik’s face was starting to go from red to purple and his efforts to get off the telepathic hold on him were to no avail.

Another beam of light was sent, this time coming from Aquata and Sirena. Veridia managed to dodge it, and so did Erik, who had dropped to his knees as he tried to breathe once more since Veridia had let him go free once she prevented the blast from hitting her.

“Veridia, stop this! This is madness!” Rita pleaded. Veridia sent her a murderous look.

“NO, THIS IS FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF ALL MERMAIDS!” she yelled as she threw one more blast, but this time it was directed at Ondina and Rita. The older mermaid ducked in time and the blast hit the chair. Ondina dodge it too, but the blast bounced with a mirror that was behind and just when it was about to hit her… someone pushed her out of the way.

There was a cry of pain and a laugh.

Ondina managed to bring her focus back on and once she did, she nearly regretted it. She screamed.

Veridia was nowhere to be found.

And lying in the floor, with blood pouring out like crazy from the side, was Erik.


	12. Taking control

“NO!” Ondina yelled as she got down on her knees and held Erik, not caring about the blood that was staining her clothes.

“Stay with me…” she pleaded. Erik weakly opened his eyes, but they were out of focus because of the pain. He could only distinguish a blond blur, which he supposed was Ondina. He tried to speak, but the words could hardly form in his mouth.

“Rita?” Ondina asked the mermaid, who was giving Sirena quick instructions on ingredients to save Erik. When she finished, she bent down near Ondina and the merman.

“That must have been the same spell she used to attack Aquata” she guessed as she inspected the wound and pressed a towel to it to try and stop the bleeding.

“But this is far worse” she said with worry,  as she inspected the wound. It looked like a bullet and a knife had struck Erik at the same time.

“But you can save him, right?” Ondina asked in panic as Sirena came right away with the ingredients, but she was pale.

“Evie and Mimmi managed to subdue Cam, but he was nearly drowning himself when they got to him” she said as she gave Rita the _‘Coral Extractum’_ bottle and another one containing sea water.

“Did you blow the shell?” Rita asked, not taking her eyes of Erik as she uncapped the bottle with the yellow substance.

“Mimmi did” Sirena answered.

“He took her place” Aquata whispered as she looked at Ondina and the semiconscious Erik. Sirena nodded.

“That’s love” she said to her sister.

Erik was being oblivious to what the others were saying. He could only concentrate in Ondina.

“Y-you c-care…” he managed to whisper in her ear.

“Well, if you want me to, I could just leave you lying in the floor” Ondina said with a little smile on her lips as her tears fell on his face.

“Erik, I’m going to warn you, this is going to hurt” Rita said as she poured the _‘Coral Extractum’_ on the wound. The same effect with Aquata occurred: the merman gave an agonizing scream but, instead of a tail, kicked his legs around until Rita opened the bottle of water and splashed Erik with it, his tail forming mere seconds later. By then, he had lost consciousness.

“Is he going to be all right?” Ondina asked immediately. Rita didn’t answer. Instead as she was busy checking the now closed wound, she then grabbed Erik’s hand and looked for a pulse. Little, weak beats were felt.

“He’ll live” she told the mermaids with a kind and reassuring smile. She then got up and went towards the grotto, where Mimmi and Evie were currently in the pool of water holding Cam, who was coughing and puking water. A white seashell was laying by the steps.

“What did Veridia do to him?” Evie asked as she patted her friends’ back to help him get the water out.

“She sang the Southern Enchantment Song to him. It was used to lure sailors to their deaths in ancient times. Besides making them follow the mermaid who sang it, it also allowed the mermaid to control the man” Rita said.

“And that shell broke it?” Evie asked as she pointed at the object.

“Yes, only that type of shells can break off the enchantment” Rita explained.

“What did she make me do?” Cam asked weakly.

“She asked you what could help her find Zac and you responded with the police. She then told you to go drown yourself” Mimmi said.

“She told me to commit suicide?” Cam asked, not believing it.

“Yes” Evie confirmed.

“You nearly scared us to death too. You had taken a large amount of water… you got lucky that we could control it and get the deadly amount of out your lungs” Mimmi added.

“Jesus” Cam muttered as he laid his head in the stone.

“I heard a scream earlier, did someone get hurt?” Evie asked worried. Rita nodded.

“Erik. He protected Ondina from a blast… he’s lucky to be alive” Rita answered.

“Yeezz… Veridia has some serious issues” Cam said as he coughed some more water. Evie’s eyes widen.

“We got time to stop her from going to the police!” she exclaimed. However, just as she was about to get out of the water, Rita stopped her.

“It’s too late, Evie” Rita said grimly.

“What do you mean? She’s right! If she’s going to use the same spell that she used with Cam, we just go with the shell and problem solved!” Mimmi said.

“None of you understand! One thing is preventing Cam from drowning, another thing is mind-controlled police officers who have guns! Veridia is not stupid and as much as she denies it, she knows how some land-objects work! If you walk in there, you will never walk out!” Rita explained with a calm face but an angry tone.

Everyone went silent.

* * *

 

At the Gold Coast police station, cops and detectives were driving each other nuts as they completed case files, called witnesses and search for clues on their cases. Now, it could be called as something ordinary considering the profession, but today was one of those days in which people claimed to have seen a missing person or a serial killer just to get the attention. The receptionist had four officers helping him on the phone calls while the rest was losing bit by bit of their patience as they listened to the witnesses give a description that didn’t match the official one.

In other words, the Gold Coast police station looked like hell.

The chief of police, Greg West, was currently in his office looking franticly for a bottle of Aspirin or Tylenol… anything to get rid of the headache that was killing him since the afternoon. As he did that, there was a knock on the door.

“WHAT?!” he yelled, clearly without patience. The door opened to reveal a young police deputy.

“Sir, your niece is on the phone” she said. The chief let out a sigh.

“Yes, thank you Olivia” he said as he picked the phone.

“Marissa, what is it now?” he asked while rubbing his temples.

“… Yes, it is a bad time to call me… I don’t know… Yes, I get that Amanda and Gigi are visiting from the States, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you stay alone with those two in the beach house… I don’t care that you and Amanda are seventeen… Can’t we talk about this later?” he answered. The young deputy was listening, a bit amused.

“…For the last time and this is my last word, Marissa, We. Will. Talk. About. This. Later” the chief hung the phone giving the most exasperated sigh ever known.

“Teenagers” he muttered.

“Hard time with them?” Olivia asked as she took a look behind her boss to the investigation board.

“You got no idea. When my sister and her husband died, I don’t really know what I was thinking when I told my niece to move here with me” the chief said.

“The sense of family unity hit you in the head?” Olivia guessed with sly smile while she kept looking at the board with curiosity.

“Must be” he said. He then took notice of Olivia and her gaze to the board. She was looking at two pictures of two boys in their mid-teens. One of them looked Italian, with a golden tan, medium brown hair with a few gold streaks in them. He had a strong jaw and bright purple eyes. The other one had classic Latino skin, perfectly arched eyebrows, and a messy wild untamable black hair that, despite being under an orange cap, was sticking out in some places. His eyes were a light amber.

“Yeah, we still can’t get a hold of those two. The last time we almost got them, he-” the chief pointed at the one with the orange cap. “-yelled some sort of code and Raiden shot an electrical wire. He nearly electrocuted four officers in order to get away” he said with a chuckle.

“I heard that the Blade Boys were a hard-to-catch gang, but I never imagined that two fifteen-year old boys were that difficult to find” Olivia said.

“The name of one who gave the code is Diablo, what did you expect?” the chief said, raising an eyebrow as if. Olivia laughed.

“Talking about teenagers, huh?” she said with a smirk. Her boss was about to say something when some loud yelling reached the office. The two police officers shared a look of annoyance as they exited to office to see what was going on now.

What they encountered, however, was the beginning of a whole new headache for Chief West.

There was a woman between her mid forties at the receptionist’s desk. She wore a long blue dress with shell patterns and she had even more shells around her neck and in her hair. She could be considered beautiful if it wasn’t for the angry face she had on her face.

“Fool! I’ll ask one more time, where is your boss?!” she demanded yelling at the receptionist, who looked unfazed.

“Ma’am, I’m going to ask you to calm down” Chief West said as he approached with some caution. The woman turned to look at him. She seemed to take notice of his badge.

“Are you the chief?” she asked. There was some arrogance on her voice.

“Yes, I am” he answered.

“I need to speak with you” she said in a flirter tone. Chief West gave a side glance to Olivia, who was looking at the woman with a ‘For real?’ look on her face.

“And why would be the sudden reason for that, Ma’am?” he asked with a mixed combination of wariness and caution.

“It’s about Zac Blakely” she said. That got Greg’s and Olivia’s attention. The chief motioned her to follow him, ignoring the smirk that had formed in the woman’s face as he opened the door to his office and closed it.

“Well, then” the chief said as he sat on his chair. “What can you tell us about the boy?” he asked.

“Oh, you see, I was actually going to ask you the same thing” the mysterious woman said with a smile.

“Excuse me?” the chief asked, not sure if he had heard correctly.

“Well, I was hoping you could tell me something about him. You know, to look for him” she said while her smile grew bigger and she flashed her eyelashes several times.

“That’s not how it works, Ma’am” the chief said while frowning. He somehow got a bad feeling in his gut about this woman.

“Oh, I believe it does” she said while an arrogant tone became evident on her again. She then held her arm up and somehow, the chief of police ended floating on top of his desk. He gave a yelp once he realized gravity had failed him.

“WHAT TH-?!”

The woman laughed at the chief’s struggles to free himself from the invisible grip. He tried to take his gun out, but the woman made another movement with their hand and the gun became so hot that Chief West was forced to drop it.

“Land people. Such pathetic creatures” she said in an almost bored tone. Greg became confused over the term ‘land people’.

“What are you-? PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!” he yelled after deciding that there was more important things to give attention to… Like the fact that he was floating three meters away from the ground because of  woman that clearly needed a mental hospital. The woman let out a chuckle, almost as she was amused by the scene.

The door suddenly opened, and the two people in the office came face to face with Olivia and three officers. The four of them were alerted by the yelling coming from the office and decided to investigate, but this is not what they expected to see: they were overwhelmed with surprise at seeing their chief hanging in the air, but they quickly regained their composure as they took out their guns. The woman didn’t even flinch.

“Madam, put the chief down and no one gets hurt” Olivia ordered. The woman simply rolled her eyes in response.

“Miss, just do what you just got told” another officer said.

“The things one has to do” she muttered. Before anyone could make sense to what she said, the woman lifted her right arm into the air, where the chief glanced at a ring with a blue stone that started to glow. She then opened her mouth and a sweet, hypnotic melody reached the officer’s ears.

_“Come now, my dear,_

_We shall be together,_

_As long as you listen…_

_Only…_

_To me…”_

And everyone’s minds in the police station went into a blank state. Their eyes became a magenta color.

Veridia laughed. It had been easier than expected. The moon ring had amplified her song and no one, man or woman, could have escaped her hypnotic spell. She put the chief down as everyone in the station came together at the office’s door.

“My followers! I want every single piece of information on Zac Blakely’s whereabouts! We shall find the Son of Nerissa and end his treat to my kind!” she said to them. They immediately scattered around, obeying her. Before all of them could leave, however, she spoke.

“You two” Veridia commanded to Olivia and another female officer. They both turned around.

“I need you to do something for me” Veridia said with a wicked smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raiden and Diable both belong to Izi Wilson, from her series "Tales of a Half Blood". Marissa Bay is an OC that belonged to a decesed fic writer for this fandom, ClockWiseWiss. Me and Izi decided to adop her to keep her memory alive.


	13. The Call

The Blakely residence had never been so silent. Not when Zac had been out doing something or in a trip; not when Rob had to make late night shifts at the hospital and not even when Lauren had to spend two days at the ER after coming down with a nasty flu.

No. Since Zac ran away, a nasty silence had taken over the whole house. It was worse in the night, when the silence was most common. Both parents had been wondering for the last three days where their son could have gone, and they could never come up with a possible answer. They tried to remember every single time when Zac would said he would like to go to a specific place again, like Mako Island, Sydney… other countries they had visited, like the United States, France, Spain, the UK… but both adults would brush those options off in the end. They knew Zac didn’t have the money to afford a trip outside Australia without theirs.

Currently, both Blakely’s were in their bedroom, sitting on their bed. They were silent, trying to think of another possible route Zac could have taken.

“Rob?” Lauren called. Her husband looked at her.

“Do you think that maybe this was our fault?” she asked in a whisper.

“Why would you say that?” he asked, not truly believing what she just said. Tears formed in his wife’s eyes.

“It’s just… maybe we were too hard on Zac. We told him the truth on Sunday, allowed him to skip school on Monday and then forced him to attend the next day… he wasn’t ready” Lauren said, blinking a few tears of guilt. Rob felt silent, knowing she actually had a good point. They didn’t give him time to face it right. He moved closer to her and held her.

“You’re right. We were. But I can’t help but think that was not the actual reason he… left” he said as Lauren wiped away some tears on his shirt.

“I wished I knew where he is” she whispered.

“Me too, Lauren” Rob said. He turned to look at the window, admiring the night sky and painfully remembering a ten year old Zac getting excited about a meteor shower.

“Me too”

* * *

 

Two figures stood outside of Rita’s house. The dark of the night made them and the big fat bags they were carrying barely noticeable as they got near the household.

Inside, Cam was asleep on the living room couch, snoring loudly and with his clothes now dry, thanks to the heating powers of the mermaids. Aquata and Sirena were cuddled alongside each other in Rita’s bed, since the spare room was now a battle site and Erik had to be transferred to the bathroom tub of the room. His tail was hanging from the end of it, his chest slowly rising and falling, and his injuries slowly healing thanks to the water and the medicine. Ondina was at his side, keeping the merman company, but not looking at him. If she looked, she would see the image of Erik bleeding out on the floor, an image that refused to get out of her head. For a moment, just one fearful moment, Ondina thought she would never see him again.

“Ondina?”

She turned her head so fast that she almost got whiplash. The mermaid then had to avoid a cheerful gargle from escaping her throat. Erik was awake.

 _“And alive”_ she thought for herself as she kneeled down beside him.

“How are you feeling?” Ondina asked.

“Uh… a bit dizzy and in pain and confused over the fact that I woke up on a tub” Erik said, wincing when he tried to pull himself up a bit.

“Well, you had lost a lot of blood and Rita didn’t think it would be a good idea to move you downstairs, given your condition” Ondina explained. Erik nodded in understanding.

“You saved me” Ondina said after a while. Erik stayed silent.

“Why did you do it?” she asked, looking at his eyes. He turned his away.

“I just… time seemed to slow down when Veridia gave the blast. Then all of sudden it was heading towards you and… for three seconds I imagined a life in which you were not there… I just couldn’t let that happen. I- I couldn’t” Erik said, blushing a bit as he said it.

Ondina gently turned his face around with her hand, making him look at her eyes again.

“Erik, you idiot, that almost came true when you pushed me out of the way” she said. And then she did something that surprised the merman: she kissed him.

“And I’m glad it didn’t come true” Ondina said once she pulled away, blushing furiously as she did so.

She then got up and decided to inform the others that Erik was awake, leaving him in the bathroom tub with a stupid smile on his face.

* * *

 

Mimmi, Evie and Rita were at the balcony. Evie was seated on the floor, leaning against the wall and was looking at pictures of her and Zac on the phone, a faint smile on her lips as she passed them. Mimmi and Rita, on the other hand, were seated on the table staring at the ocean in silence.

“You lied to me” Mimmi said softly, breaking the silence. Evie looked up in confusion, while Rita sighted.

“I know” she said.

“Err… what now?” Evie asked from her spot.

“You told me you never knew my mother… only heard of her” Mimmi continued to say, ignoring Evie’s question. “But Veridia said, and I quote ‘You and Nerissa always had the tendency to say that’. You knew her; you met my mother, why did you tell me you didn’t?”

Rita stayed silent.

“Please Rita” Mimmi pleaded. Rita looked at her, let out another sigh and stood up.

“Wait here” she said as she got inside, leaving both teenage mermaid girls alone.

“Are you all right?” Evie dared to ask.

“I… I don’t know” Mimmi admitted.

“I mean… I don’t know what to think right now or what mermaid I can trust, since everybody seems to like keeping secrets about my family from me!” she continued to say, this time clinching her fists in anger. Evie, not knowing what to say for the first time, stood in her place looking at the mermaid with pity. She seemed to relax a bit after a little while.

“I don’t understand anything that’s happening” Mimmi whispered.

“Life works in a very weird way, Mimmi” Evie said softly. Mimmi let out a dry laugh. An uncomfortable silence took over them, but it soon gave way when Rita returned. In her hand she held a photograph. The two girls recognized it as the picture of Rita and Harry in their youth.

“It’s quite a long story” Rita said as she took a seat. But just as she was about to continue, Ondina came in.

“Erik woke up” she informed. Her face was pink and her eyes had a little sparkle that didn’t get unnoticed by the people she was talking to.

“Good. Get him of the water” Rita said.

“And risk my tail to show off?” Ondina asked while raising an eyebrow.

“Ondina, I’m pretty sure he has seen you with a tail” Mimmi said.

“Wake Cam, that way you won’t get wet” Rita suggested.

“And we don’t have to hear his snoring anymore, too” Evie added. Ondina nodded in possible agreement and mere seconds later, they herd Cam yelling bloody murder followed by footsteps towards the room in which Erik was.

“You were saying?” Mimmi asked Rita, clearly eager to learn how she knew Nerissa. But before the older mermaid could utter a word, she found herself interrupted by a loud banging at the front door. It startled all of them.  After sharing a look with the two teenage girls, Rita got up to answer it. Evie and Mimmi, after waiting a few seconds, decided to follow.

As they made their way into the hall, however, Evie’s phone started to beep. She stopped as she looked at Mimmi, who shrugged and continued her way towards the door with Rita. Evie rolled her eyes and took out the phone. It read ‘Unknown’.

* * *

 

Mimmi stopped in front of the door along with Rita.

“Funny that a few hours after Veridia left to go to the police, we receive a knock on the door” Rita muttered. Mimmi’s face paled.

“You don’t think that…” she said. There was another nock, harder and more impatient than the first one. Giving one more wary look to Mimmi, Rita turned to the door.

“Yes? Who is it?” she asked.

“It’s the police. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions” a monotone voice said through the door.

Rita narrowed her eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t right know. Could you come back tomorrow? I will be glad to answer them” she said as she motioned Mimmi to come closer.

“You need to use your moon ring” Rita whispered to the teenager.

“What do you want me to do with it?” Mimmi asked.

“Madam, just let us in” said another monotone voice.

“Do you know how to perform a swirl spell?” Rita asked her, ignoring the voices. Mimmi nodded.

“When I open the door, you go for it. And do it quick” Rita instructed. She grabbed the door knob and opened the door… only to be met with two female police officer with magenta eyes that pointed their guns to her face.

“Miss Veridia sends her deepest condolences” Olivia said with a wicked smile. But before she could pull the trigger, Mimmi raised her moon ring, which glowed around the officers.  They both   turned in circles in mid-air and then were blasted towards the electric poles. A gunshot was heard, and one of the wires from the poles snapped as a bullet ripped through it.

Evie retreated to the living room, the call from the unknown contact still beeping in her phone screen. She hesitated before answering it.

“Hello?”

_“Evie”_

Her heart nearly stopped. That voice…

“Zac?”

She doesn’t know why she still asked.  Maybe she just wanted to make sure it was him.

 _“Yeah, it’s me”_ he answered.

Evie leaned against the wall and let out a relieved sob as she covered her mouth.

_“You didn’t get the note I left you?”_

“I got the note… I just forgot you had promised to call me” she said once she got a hold of herself.

 _“Yeah… sorry I didn’t call sooner”_ Zac apologized. They went silent until Evie decided to ask what had been bothering her.

“Zac… why?” she whispered. From the other line came a heavy sigh.

 _“I- I had to Evie. Everyone was pushing me to accept something that completely changed how I saw my life”_ Zac said. Evie stayed silent.

 _“And between Erik being excited that there was another true merman around and Mimmi not getting the ‘giving space’ thing… it was too much”_ he continued to say.

At the mention of Mimmi, however, Evie sat up straight almost immediately, her eyes wide with a realization.

“Zac, oh my god, Zac there’s something you need to know” she said urgently.

 _“What? What is it?”_ Zac asked, noticing the worry in her tone.

But before she could warn him of the danger he was in, the lights of the Santos house went out…

… and with the blackout, Evie’s phone died.   


	14. The Attempt

“Why those bitches!” Olivia yelled as she got up from the ground. Her partner did the same.

“We should continue. The bullet damaged the power” she said as she pointed at the now dark house.

“Good that I knew the information on how to do that from those little criminals before we declared Miss Veridia our leader” Olivia said as she looked for the bag  she had brought with herself.

“They won’t even know what hit them” her partner said while she opened her own. Inside, a ton of wires and little cubes occupied nearly all the space.

* * *

 

Inside Rita’s house there was a chaos.

“MIMMI! RITA!” Evie yelled from the living room as she desperately looked for the flashlight app on her phone. She was also cursing herself for not being able to warn Zac before the call got cut.

“EVIE?!” Sirena’s voice came from the main bedroom. She sounded panicked.

“In the living room Sirena!” she informed as she finally found the app. Once she activated it, the light illuminated Cam’s face.

“ARGH!” he yelled while jumping backwards and covering his eyes. Evie flinched.

“Sorry Cam” she said.

“I’m blind” he muttered while he rubbed his eyes. Evie rolled her eyes and with the light, discovered Ondina and Erik standing on the door frame. The merman had his right arm thrown over the mermaid shoulders, who was supporting him in a way that clearly said that she was not letting him go.

“Where’s Mimmi? And Rita? And Sirena and Aquata?” Ondina asked looking around.

“Here” Mimmi said as she appeared behind her with Rita.

“What happened?” Cam asked.

“The police. They are here and under Veridia’s control” Rita informed as she marched to her own room. Sirena and Aquata came out shortly after.

“What happened to the lights?” Sirena asked.

“What’s going on _now_?”Aquata asked at the same time too.

“Police. Veridia. Trying to kill us” Mimmi summarized.

“Um… guys?” Cam said. They all turned their attention to him. The teenager was looking through the window with the help of his phone´s light.

“Why are there two people planting some stuff in front of the house?” he asked as he kept looking through the glass. Erik, with Ondina’s help, got where Cam was standing. Upon closer inspection, his eyes widened up.

“We need to get out of here” he said. Cam imitated his actions. His eyes soon mimicked Erik’s.

“Holy- Get Rita. Erik’s right. We need to go. Now” he said as he got away from the window.

“What’s going on?” Evie asked, worried about their behaviors. Rita soon came out of her room carrying a bag. Erik turned to her.

“Bombs. They’re planning on blowing us up”

* * *

 

“I’ll plant these on the back of the house” Olivia said to her partner.

“And then ‘boom’, right?” her partner asked with a sinister smirk. Olivia smiled and made her way to the back.

* * *

 

“Quick, everyone to the grotto” Rita ordered as she opened the entrance. They all came hurriedly;   even Aquata and Erik managed to keep the pace with the help of Sirena, Ondina and Cam. But it was difficult to walk in the dark grotto, even with phone-flashlights.

“Come on, faster!” Mimmi said as they went down the steps. However, she slipped on the last step and would have met the floor if it wasn’t for Rita.

“Watch your step” she said as they continued towards the water entrance.

* * *

 

“All set” Olivia said to her partner.

“What about the neighbors?” she asked. Olivia shrugged.

“Who cares? Too bad if they are near” she said. Her partner nodded and took out a small box with a button.

She pressed it.

* * *

 

“Hurry, to the water!” Evie said once they reached the pool entrance. Sirena and Aquata jumped first and quickly disappeared towards the ocean. Ondina and Erik were to follow-

BOOM!

A large earthquake shook the Santo’s household. Dust fell over them.

BOOM!

This time, little pebbles from the ceiling joined along.

“Dive in, NOW!” Rita told them. Ondina and Erik quickly obeyed, and soon they were gone too.

This only left Mimmi, Evie, Rita and Cam, who were covering their heads from the little rocks.

“Let’s go!” Cam yelled. “We don’t know when-”

BOOM!

This time Evie and Mimmi lost their balance while the earth shook and they both landed on the water;  their tails soon appeared. They could all hear things crashing all over the grotto, and they could also swear that there was a burnt smell moving towards them.

“Come on! Go!” Rita yelled. The two girls didn’t argue and dived under the water.

“Our turn Cam” Rita said to the male teen. He nodded and got in, breathing sharply when feeling the cold water for the second time in the day, with Rita soon following.

“Hang on to my waist and don’t let go” she said. Cam complied, although it felt a bit awkward hanging on to his mermaid high school principal waist like a little kid hugging his mother.

“Take a deep breath” she instructed him. Cam barely had the time to do it since she dived beneath the water in a second, bringing him down too. He tried to open his eyes, but as expected, the salted water burned them. And anyway, the underwater tunnel was dark.

Even on the water, they could hear another big explosion. The tunnel rumbled and Rita hurried towards the end, with Cam kicking his legs in an attempt to help. They had to make it.

 **“Just keep swimming”** she told herself. Soon the exit was before her, but to Rita’s horror, rocks were starting to fall, threatening to lock them in the tunnel. With one final flip of her tail, she used her speed-swim to get her and Cam out just before the cave collapsed. Rita let out a breath of relief and hurried towards the surface with Cam.

* * *

 

Veridia watched the explosion with fascination from her new minions’ eyes. Her former friends’ home was now in flames and definitely Rita was dead by now. They smile of victory had no intention of leaving her face.

“Mistress” a voice called. Veridia ended the connection with the two police officers she had sent to focus on the man who had led her into the office.

“What?” she asked, a bit irritated for having been interrupted.

“We are getting calls about our deed. What do you wish for me to do about them?” Greg asked.

“Dismiss them. You land people believe every single stupid excuse in the book” Veridia said. Greg West bowed and left the room, leaving the mermaid alone with her thoughts. In the last hours, she had sent police officers to Mako just in case Rita and the other outcasts had fled there for sanctuary, placed some to keep watch over the Blakely’s and Rita’s workplace, hoping for a bit that the boy will be stupid enough to come back… but she had found nothing about Zac’s whereabouts.

“Son of Nerissa… I don’t know where you are, but when I find you… dear, boy, I will be putting you out of your misery” Veridia muttered.

* * *

 

Rita watched her home get consumed by the flames. Silent tears were falling down her face. That house had so many memories…

“Rita?” she heard Evie say. She didn’t turn to look at her student, but somehow the girl knew that she was listening.

“We need to get out of here. Cam could catch hypothermia at any moment and Erik and Aquata are in no condition to swim towards Mako” she said softly. Rita nodded numbly.

“But… _where_ do we go?” Ondina asked.

“My house and Cam’s is not an option… our parents will ask too many questions…” Evie said, biting her lip.

“What about David’s?” Sirena asked. They all turned to look at her, a mix of surprise and shock on their faces.

“Sirena…” Aquata stared to say, but she was cut by Mimmi.

“It’s not a bad idea” she said. Sirena gave her a kind smile.

“WHAT?!” squealed Ondina. “I get he’s your boyfriend, Sirena, but we walk in his house and we will have to _tell_ him”

“I know” Sirena said softly. She looked at her sister for support, as well as Evie and Cam.

“Well, I don’t particularly know this… land boy who has fished your heart, dear sister; but if you seem to trust him it is enough…” Aquata said trailing off since she didn’t know what else to say.

“I tr-trust Dav- David” Cam said, shivering with the cold water.

“Me too” Evie said.

“He already believes in mermaids” Mimmi said with shrug.

“He’s a good boss” Erik said, not knowing what to add.

“It’s decided” Rita said, turning back from her house in flames. “Let’s go”.

* * *

 

David’s house turned out to be on a five minute walk from the Ocean Café. Unfortunately, given Aquata’s and Erik’s injuries, as well as Cam not being able to dry himself so easily, the supposed five minutes turned out to be ten. That and on top of all, every time he took a shivered breath, Cam torso busted with pain. He didn’t mention it though. Two injured merpeople were enough problems.

“We’re here” Evie said as a two-story white house that looked more like a mansion came across their view. They all hurried on as they passed the open gates (David’s parents didn’t seem to believe in security) and the front porch with a red Lexus Minivan and a blue Porsche. Once they got in front of the door, Sirena knocked on the door rather impatiently. No answer.

“Come on, David. Your car’s here, so you’re here” Evie muttered as Sirena once again knocked. Several minutes passed and just when Sirena was about to knock again, the door was finally opened by a seventeen year old boy with curly dark brown hair and a puppy looking face.

“Sirena?” David asked a bit confused to see his girlfriend on his door at this late hour.

“David” Sirena breathed in relief.

“What’s going on? I just heard something about an explosion in your neighborhood and-” he asked as all of sudden Ondina busted through the door with Erik and Sirena found herself forced to do the same with Aquata while Evie, Mimmi, Rita and Cam did the same.

“I promise I will explain it all” Sirena told him as he closed the door. “But first we need to settle down” she said. David nodded in agreement.

“Why is Cam dripping wet?” he asked as he led them to the living room.

“Comes w-with the ex-explanation. It’s a f-full pa-package mate” Cam said shivering and trying hard not to wince. “Can I get a towel?” he asked as they passed the towel basket that was always located before the living room.

“Okay, but I got to warn you that Carly is inside the living room, too” David said as he opened the door. The Mako gang couldn’t even react in time when Carly’s voice soon greeted them.

“Who was it?” Evie’s best friend asked as she got up from one of the sofas. She then took notice of the guests. “Oh”.

“Er… Hi Carly!” Evie said, trying to smile like there was nothing wrong with the world and that they definitely didn’t almost die two times in one day.   Unfortunately for her, Carly didn’t buy the fake smile, given that she knew her friend almost too well. She eyed the guests suspiciously.

“All right, what’s going on?” Carly asked, crossing her arms over her chest. The merpeople shared a nervous look. They were not counting on this.

After a few moments of hesitation, Rita took a deep breath.

“Well, Carly… there’s something you and David need to know” she started to say as she stepped from behind the teenagers. Carly looked surprised as she had not noticed her high school principal among the teenagers.

“Rita…”  Aquata trailed off. The older mermaid ignored her.

“Does this have to do with the explanation?” David asked Sirena.

“It’s at the center of the explanation” Sirena said, knowing what Rita was about to spill the beans.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Carly asked.

“Let’s just say it starts with a simple question” Rita said as she walked towards the still trembling Cam. Even though he was wrapped in a towel, he was still dripping wet. She passed her hand through Cam’s wet hair. Rita then took a seat on the sofas, mentally counting the ten seconds before the transformation.

“Which is?” Carly asked. Five seconds. Rita sighed.

“Do you believe in mermaids?” she asked, her tail forming a mere second later.


	15. An Explanation

A very awkward, heavy silence fell upon the living room. Carly and David stared at their high school principal wide-eyed,  with their jaws nearly touching the ground as their eyes scanned Rita’s tail.

“Can somebody please say something?” Cam asked. That seemed to bring the other two teens out of their astonishment.

“This… this is…” Carly tried to speak cohesively.

“Amazing” David breathed. He looked at Sirena, who seemed hesitant to meet his eyes. “Are you…?” he asked her.

“Yes, yes I am” she said, biting her lip. Aquata gave her a side-glance.

“We all are” Rita said.

“Mmmm…” Cam coughed.

“Most of us are” she corrected herself.

“So… this is why you run every time a liquid hits you!” Carly exclaimed. Ondina huffed.

“Yeah, it’s starting to become pretty annoying” she said. Mimmi and Sirena nodded in agreement.

“Wait, Evie… you’re one too?” Carly asked her friend,  softly. Evie gave a heavy sigh, but nodded nonetheless.

“For two months now” she whispered.

“And you didn’t tell me” Carly said with a bitter tone.

“Carly…” Evie started to say, but her friend had stormed off towards the garden. Evie stayed still for a moment, but then decided to follow. Cam, after some hesitation, decided to go too.

The others stayed silent for a while.

“So,” David started to say. “My girlfriends’ a mermaid. And I’m human. Please tell me there’s not a sea witch in this mix”

The only answer he got was Sirena and Erik bursting in laughter.

* * *

Evie found Carly sitting on the docks, under the lamp post near it and her knees close to her chest. As she approached her, she heard someone else near her. Turning her head, she saw Cam.

“You should be inside” she said, not slowing down her walking.

“Yeah, I know” he said. Evie gave him the famous ‘don’t play with me’ look.

“Come on. I know about the whole ‘my best friend now has a tail?!’ business. It’s a job for The Camster” Cam said, trying hard not to wince from the pain on his side. Evie didn’t notice though, as she had finally arrived to the dock in which Carly was sitting.

“Carly?” Evie asked softly. Her friends only answer was silence. She moved closer and sat next to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Carly asked, her gaze still on the water.

“I’m really sorry” Evie said. “I wanted to, but... I had to protect the others” she added, looking at Carly. She turned to look at her and Cam.

“Did you know too?” Carly asked him.

“Yes” he answered.

“But not me. That’s great” Carly said, her voice filled with hurt.

“Carly, listen” Cam said. She looked at him.

“I know this is a big shock, especially if your friends knew and you were kept in the dark. But you have to understand, very few humans know because… what if the opportunity to become famous was just at the palm of your hand with this information? Would you risk the lives of innocent people just for the fame?” he asked her. Carly stayed silent for a bit.

“No” she said, looking at Evie, who gave a small smile. The three of them fell into a silence that was broken by Carly.

“Sorry about the behavior earlier…. It’s just that reminds me of those two kids I had to tutor last year” she said.

“Raiden Consorzio and Diablo Nagual?” Cam asked, rising an eyebrow as in confirmation. Carly nodded. Evie and Cam knew what their friend meant: On 2014, Carly’s family was going through some financial problems and in an attempt to raise more money; she took a job as an English tutor for Sun Coast’s freshmen. She developed a bond with the two kids she taught. But one day, Raiden and Diablo took a series of wrong decisions that lead them to join the infamous Blade Boys gang. Carly took their joining of the gang as an act of betrayal.

“Well… I’m not planning on joining an illegal gang” Evie said, which caused some laughs from Carly.

“So… are we good?” Evie asked.

“Hmmm… I just go one question for you” Carly said. Evie looked at her quizzically.

“Do the tails come in different colors?” Carly asked with a grin on her face. Evie laughed.

“No” she said, still giggling and shaking her head. “It’s golden bronze for girls and deep blue for boys”

Carly’s eyes widened, but before she could get out a squeal of excitement over the ‘boy term’, Cam covered her mouth with his hand.

“Please don’t” he pleaded with a serious face. Evie rolled her eyes.

“Come on, let’s go back inside. I promise I will tell you everything” Evie said as she put her hands on Carly’s shoulders and guided her back to the house. Carly didn’t protest as the three of them soon where in front of the backdoor.

“So there are merboys?” Carly asked Evie as they entered back to the living room.

“Mer _men_ ” Erik corrected once he saw her. He and Ondina where lying on the couch with blankets on top of them. Carly stopped to look at him, mouth wide open.

“Wait… Erik, you’re a merman?!” she nearly screamed.

“This is what I wanted to avoid in the garden” Cam muttered.

“Got a problem with that?” Erik asked Carly.

“No… I guess it explains a few things about you” she said, thinking back to all the times he had come late to work, saying he was swimming in the ocean; every time he had refused to touch the liquids in the café unless it was with gloves…

“Where are the others?” Evie asked, noticing the absence of Aquata, Rita, Mimmi, David and Sirena.

“After a brief explanation, David took them upstairs. His parents and Joe are in a business trip. Rita also received distressed calls from Cam’s parents and your dad; they heard of the explosion and the two of you weren’t answering the phone, she simply told them she had taken all of us out for dinner” Erik explained. “And David also said the three of you are also welcome to sleep for the night”

Cam and Evie nodded.

“Is she going to be silent?” Ondina asked to Evie and Cam, looking at Carly with suspicion.

“I swear I will not say anything about tails” Carly said. Ondina let out a sigh.

“Too bad, if you had refused, I would have enjoyed drowning you” she said while pouting.

“Ondina!” Evie said with horror as Carly and Cam faces paled. But Ondina then started laughing uncontrollably.

“HAHA! I’m – I’m kidding!” she said. “You should have seen your faces!”

“Not funny” Carly said with a frown.

“How long have you been meaning to do that?” Erik asked with an amused face.

“Since I was seven” Ondina replied, wiping a tear from her eye. Evie shook her head.

“I’ll go call my dad. He will give me all the possible yells I’ll ever hear in my life, but at least to show him I’m OK” she said, leaving the room.

“Soooo… no drowning?” Carly asked Ondina, just to make sure.

“No drowning” Ondina confirmed. Cam let out a snort, which caused another wave of pain on his side, and left the room. Much to his discomfort, Carly soon joined him. Two of them walked towards the stairs in silence.

“You can take that false threat as a ‘welcome’ from Ondina” Cam said to Carly. She playfully punched him on the side, but Cam let out a sharp breath of pain and clutched his injury, while the other hand grabbed the stair handle for support. Carly had accidentally punched him where the pain on the side had been coming since they escaped from the explosion.

“Cam?” Carly asked worried.

“I’m fine” he said through gritted teeth. “Ever considered becoming a boxer?” he asked, trying to distract her mind off what happen. Carly, however, frowned. She opened her mouth to say something, but then noticed something forming on Cam’s shirt.

“Cam… you’re bleeding” she whispered.

“I am?” he said as he looked at his shirt. “Well this explains the pain I’ve been feeling for about an hour”

“You were injured and didn’t say anything?!” Carly exclaimed angrily.

“Uh… sorry?” Cam said warily. Carly resisted the urge to slap him for being an idiot and took a few breaths to calm down.

“Something tells me that yelling at you won’t fix anything” she said after a while. “Come on, to the bathroom” she said.

“Why?” was Cam’s amazing reply.

“Because, a) You are wounded. b) I know how to take care of some injuries” Carly started to say as she pulled him towards the guest bathroom. “And c)-” she said as she stopped by the door. “-We can chat about our merfriends”

She made him sit on the toilet as she got out a first aid kit from the drawer.

“How did you know that was there?” Cam asked. Carly stared at him blankly.

“Don’t you remember? David and Joe made a pack that if any of them ever came drunk and needed like some kind of help but didn’t want to go to the hospital or tell their parents, they would just hide a bazillion first aid kits around the house” she explained.

“I can hardly remember _David_ , of all people, making that pact with Joe” Cam said. Carly put her hands in the air.

“That’s what I got told” she said as she opened the kit and started getting out the stuff. “Take off the shirt”

Cam did as he was told, being graceful that he had decided to wear a buttoned shirt. If it had been another, the taken off the clothing would have been more painful that it already was. When he finally got rid of it, Carly let out a breath of relief.

“You got lucky. It’s a wound made by a sharp object” she looked closer. “I don’t think you will need stitches”

“Hold up on second, when did you become a nurse?” Cam suddenly asked.

“I got an aunt. She thought me the basic stuff” Carly replied with a small grin on her face. “Plus, according to a research, everyone should have some basic first aid training” she added while holding up a bottle of distilled water and some gauze.

After some painful hisses, shouts filled with curses, and ‘stop behaving like a baby’ comments from Carly; Cam had his side bandaged.

“Thanks” he said.

“No problem” Carly answered. There was a pause. “Why didn’t you say anything?” she finally asked.

“About the pain?” Cam asked.

“No, about the 2016 American elections” Carly said rolling her eyes. “Yes, your wound. Why didn’t you tell the others?”

Cam was silent. She sighted, and made a motion to get up and leave.

“I didn’t want to bring more problems that they already had” she heard Cam whisper just when she was about to open the door. Carly turned around slowly to look at him.

“I mean… Sirena’s sister, Erik and I nearly got killed by the same psycho in less than 24 hours… Evie is basically a wreck of emotions over Zac running away… Mimmi, it’s the same thing… Ondina… I guess she is the only one normal here, and she is a mermaid… and Rita just lost her house in an explosion” he said. “Everyone already had a problem to worry about. I didn’t want to add an injured me on the list”

Carly sat on the floor and held his hand.

“Even if that wound could have gotten infected and subsequently killed you?” she asked.

“Are you calling me dramatic?” Cam asked, rising an eyebrow.

“A bit” Carly said with a small smirk. “But… also a bit brave. You held your tongue with the pain”

Cam chuckled.

“I don’t see myself as brave” he said. “In fact, you could describe me as a backstabbing little cunt”

“Really?” Carly said, raising her eyebrows. Cam nodded.

“Why do I have the feeling this has to do with the tail business? And yours and Zac’s friendship fallout last year?” Carly said, crossing her arms. Cam sighted, he forgot how smart Carly could be.

“I don’t think is worth hearing” he muttered, his eyes locked on the floor. Carly lips made a small smile, and took Cam’s hands. His eyes made contact with hers.

“Try me” she said. He took a big breath.

“Well… it all started when Zac and I went camping on Mako last year…”


	16. Meetings

Zac let out a heavy sigh as he kicked a rock in the sand and looked towards the ocean. Staring at the deep blue always made him feel calmer and relaxed. The feeling was better when he was swimming in the sea. But right now, he just wanted to stay on the beach, feet locked in the sand. This activity, along with a few dips in the lake where his little camp was settled, were all what he had been doing the two days he had been there. That, and having some _really_ weird dreams.

But above all, Zac was worried. Yesterday, Evie had suddenly hung up the call and no matter how many times he tried to call back, she wouldn’t respond. The line sounded dead. What concerned him even more was the fact that she seemed about to warn him about something. The way her voice changed had been alarming, and Zac considered going back to the Gold Coast. But there was a feeling inside of him that told him that he needed to stay where he was.

Zac’s train of thought was interrupted when someone bumped into him and threw both of them to the ground.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” an American voice said.  

“It’s okay” Zac said while he tried to get up. The American, a teenage girl, did the same. She had blue grey eyes and dirty blond hair. Once they were on their feet again, he noticed, much to his astonishment, that she was just as tall as he was. She looked that she was about to say something when another girl´s voice was heard.

“GIGI! GIVE IT BACK NOW!”

The girl, now identified as Gigi, hid behind a bush while at the same time making a ‘shush’ to Zac. He looked away from her hiding place to see another teenager coming towards him. She looked almost like Gigi, with the same hair and eye color. However, she was shorter and had a pissed-off look on her face.

“Excuse me, but have you seen a girl who looks a bit like me, but taller?” she asked Zac. She too had an American accent.

“Um… no” Zac said as he gave a quick side glance to the bush.

“You hesitated” American girl #2 said with an accusing tone. Zac gave a half smile. The girl groaned.

“Gigi Shode, you have approximately five seconds to come out from wherever you are and maybe, maybe, I’ll spare you for stealing my copy of _‘Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows’_!” she yelled.

The only answer she got was silence. The girl let out a sigh and started walking around the place. Just when she was in front of the bush, a set of giggles were heard. The girl smirked.

“Got you” she said as ran behind the bush.

“AHH!!” Zac later heard her scream, followed by laughter. The two girls emerged from behind the bush, Gigi laughing her ass off and  red-faced.

“God, I hate you” she said as she glared at her friend. Gigi pouted.

“But I’m adorable!” she said.

Zac watched the scene, amused.

 “AMANDA! GIGI! WHERE ARE YOU?”

The teens turned to look at the direction where the voice had come. Another girl, this time with teal eyes and brown hair, approached them. She, unlike Amanda and Gigi, who had fair skin, had slightly tanned skin.

“One of these days… the two of you are going to give me a heart attack” she said, crossing her arms and glaring at them. Zac found himself a bit surprised by her accent. It was American… but also with a tinge of Australian thrown into the mix.

“Sorry, but _somebody-_ ” Amanda started to say at the same time as she gave Gigi a side glare. “-thought it would be funny to steal my book because she left hers at home”

“You didn’t want to borrow it!” Gigi said.

“I told you to wait _one_ chapter, and you ran away” Amanda replied. The other unidentified girl simply rolled her eyes. To Zac, it was clear this wasn’t the first time something like this happened.

“Let me see if I get this straight: the two of you made me search almost the entire beach area like a pirate; because of a book… _again_?” the other girl said.

 _“Yep, it definitely isn’t the first time”_ Zac thought. He was just about to turn around and leave the girls to their business when the unidentified one called after him.

“Hey! Stop right there, mate!”

Zac sighed.

“Thank you, in a way, for stopping them” she said to him. Zac shrugged.

“No problem” he said as he put his hands on his pockets. The girl studied him and frowned.

“You look familiar” she said. Zac immediately sensed his body tense up.

“R-really? By who?” he asked while his mind raced to find a reasonable excuse.

“I don’t know… it’s like I have seen you in T.V” she said. Behind her, Amanda snorted. Zac and the other girl looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, he’s Australian. He could be related to the Hemsworth brothers, Russell Crow, Hugh Jackman or Margot Robbie, because… you know…. Australia” Amanda blabbered, her cheeks turning red. Gigi giggled.

“Smooth” she whispered.

“Err… sorry, but I’m not related to them” Zac said, smiling a bit. He turned to look at the other girl. “So… I gotta go” he said, turning around full time and started to walk away the fastest and unsuspicious way possible.

“He seemed nice… and he was cute” Gigi said as they watched him go.

“That guy was probably in his late teens and you are thirteen” Amanda said.

“And going on fourteen” Gigi replied.

“Didn’t you think that there was something off about him?” the other girl asked.

“A bit, yeah” Amanda said, with Gigi nodding in agreement. But Amanda soon smiled.

“Marissa Bay, I think living with your uncle is giving you an interest in detective work” she said. Marissa let out a small huff, but returned the smile anyway.

“Who did he remind you of?” Gigi asked, curious. Marissa turned to look at her friend.

“Of the guy that ran away from home in The Gold Coast” she said. “Zac Blakely”

* * *

 

“That was close” Zac said to himself for the umpteenth time as he got back to his camp. “That was really, really close”

Again, he found himself looking at the sea. And again, memories of the events of the chamber started going through his mind. It didn’t matter that he was far way from Mako Island, those memories keep hunting him like demons. It was becoming annoying. He stopped walking and sat down.

“I would like answers” Zac whispered as he played with a sharp rock. “I would like to know why Mako Island draws me like it was some form of beacon. Why every single thing over there is some form of weapon that relates to me”

He let out a heavy sigh. And then pain manifested over his hand. He looked down and noticed that he had cut himself while playing with the rock. Zac didn’t try to ease the pain; instead he watched the small drops of blood fall to the sand.

“I would like to know why the truth keeps being hidden from me by my loved ones…” Zac whispered. Some tears were forming in his eyes.

“And I would like to know why you left me… Nerissa” he asked quietly.

The ocean didn’t respond.

* * *

 

That same day, at the same time, in the Gold Coast, David’s house was still serving as a hotel for Rita and her ‘nieces’, as well as for Erik. Early in the morning, Cam, Evie and Carly had left for their homes.  In the case of the first two, they were met by extremely angry parents; they were both grounded over not answering their cell phones when they had called over a thousand times and worrying them to death. However, they were allowed to visit David’s house only to check over their friends.

As they walked towards the house, both teenagers couldn’t help but give side glances over their shoulders.

“I feel that I am in constant danger” Cam muttered as he glanced again. “Honestly, why did I even leave my house?”

“I think you just talked like an introvert” Evie replied, but she too was worried. What if a cop came and saw they were not dead and tried to kill them on the spot?

But, no cops came up in their view when they arrived at David’s, so both of them breathed with relief once their childhood friend opened the front door and let them in.

“Sirena has been filling me over your adventures” David said excitedly as they walked towards the dining room. “And I honestly can’t believe the reason I met her is because she, Nixie and Lyla let Zac and you, Cam, into Mako Island, and Zac fell into this weird mystical pool and he became a merman! And they came to land to remove his powers!” he said.

“How far in telling the story has she come?” Evie asked. David’s face became serious.

“All of it” he replied. “I can’t believe that Zac ran away because he discovered that he was born a merman and also was Mimmi’s brother. Who would have thought?”

“There’s more to that” Cam said. “He was actually getting overwhelmed”

David nodded in possible agreement as they got to the room. The mermaids and Erik were having breakfast in the table, and it was full of seafood. Lobsters, tuna, shrimp and oysters were scattered in plates and being devoured by the merpeople. The only exception to the seafood was a sole big plate of fruit that contained bananas, apples, watermelons and melons.

“Isn’t Carly here?” Cam asked as he looked around for her. Like magic, the blonde girl appeared from the kitchen with a coffee mug.

“Hello” was all she said with a sleepy voice as she drank the dark beverage.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine in the morning” Cam said with a smug smile. Carly gave him a ‘seriously?’ look.

“How’s your chest?” she asked with a sly smirk.

“What’s wrong with Cam’s chest?” Erik asked. The others turned to look at him with curiosity. Cam rubbed the back of his neck, nervous.

“Well… I may or may have not gotten injured when we escaped the explosion and didn’t mention it and Carly noticed and took care of it?” he said rather fast and blushing slightly at the last part. The others (except for Carly) gaped at him.

“YOU WERE INJURED AND DIDN’T MENTION IT?!” Evie’s voice penetrated Cam’s eardrums.

“Okay! Yes, I didn’t say anything because we already had enough with Aquata and Erik! I didn’t want to worry anyone else!” Cam yelled. The others were taken aback.

“And honestly, I don’t want to hear any more of this, because, in case half of you forgot, there’s a homicidal crazy mermaid that wants to kill Zac! My best mate! Can’t we focus on that?” he continued to say.

“Okay, okay… you’re right, it’s just… you could have said something, mate. No one was going to rain on you” Erik said. The others nodded. Cam sat down, not wanting to give a comment. Carly and David soon followed.

“So, now that we have that sorted, someone still owns me an explanation” Mimmi said as she glanced at Rita. The older mermaid nodded.

“Yes, yes I do” Rita said. Everyone leaned on their seats, like children when a parent was going to tell a good bedtime story.

“It all started twenty one years ago…”

* * *

 

_Hundreds of mermaids were reunited in the ocean; all of them were from different parts of the sea. While the leaders of the pods were on constant meetings regarding peace and merman trouble, the young ones were told to hang out with one another._

_“I don’t know how many times I have said this, but I completely dislike these social interactions” a teenage blond mermaid said. Another mermaid, a dark red haired, let out a heavy sigh. Clearly, she was starting to get tired of hearing her friends´ constant nagging._

_“And how many times have I have to tell you that we have to?” she responded._

_“I know, but still, if I was our pod leader, I would just send a note saying that we are not interested” the blond one said._

_“These meetings are every ten years and are obligatory. Even if you manage to become pod leader, you will still have to attend” the red head replied._

_Just when her friend was about to respond, they saw a black haired mermaid being chased by four other mermaids. While the first one looked frightened, the others looked mean._

_“I don’t think this is going to end well” the red haired said to the blond one, who just looked indifferent._

_“The pod leaders can handle it” she said as she started to swim to the opposite direction. Her friend, however, pulled her by the tail and gave her a stern look. After a silent debate, the blond one let out a growled “FINE!” and both mermaids swam in the direction the others had gone. They found them in a secluded rock formation, and the dark haired mermaid was leaning against a rock while the others surrounded her. As the other two mermaids got closer, they could hear snippets of the conversation._

_“-Most powerful, yeah right, you can’t even form a full tide!” a mermaid with light brown hair said. The dark haired mermaid flinched at the comment._

_“I can do it! I just get nervous!” she said to her defense._

_“Shut up!” another mermaid yelled at her._

_“Leave her alone!” the dark haired mermaid yelled to the others, not being able to keep watching the bulling._

_The mean mermaids turned to look at her and her friend, and when they were about to say something, the cornered mermaid help up her hand and created a small hurricane around her bullies. The storm got them twirling around the place and later threw them eighty meters away. The blond and the red haired mermaids looked at her in shock._

_“How… how did you do that?” the blond one asked._

_“It’s a trick I’ve been trying to master for a while” the dark haired mermaid said. Now that they were closer, they noticed she had a northern accent._

_“It was pretty cool” the red haired said. The other mermaid blushed._

_“Thank you. And… thanks for defending me. Not many people do that” she said. “Are you from the southern pods?” she asked with a curious look._

_“Yes, from the Mako pod. My name is Rita” the red haired said. “And this is my friend Veridia” she said while pointing at the blond one, who simply gave a nod of acknowledgment. Rita held up her hand._

_“I’m from the Beaufort Sea pod” the northern mermaid said while she shook Rita’s hand. “My name is Nerissa”_


	17. The New Lackeys

“OFFICER!!!” Veridia shouted from the office. Greg came running, nearly tripping over himself.

“You called for me, mistress?” he asked politely.

“Yes, you fool!” Veridia said,  annoyed. “Do you have any information of the boy?” she asked. The detective gulped.

“Er… sorry mistress, but there has been no time” he said rather forcibly.

“What do you mean ‘there has been no time’?” Veridia asked in a dangerous voice.

“Well, you see, with the explosion at the Santos household, we had to come up with excuses, like gas leaks and-”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE EXCUSES TO THE OTHER LAND PEOPLE! I WANT THAT BOY FOUND!” Veridia yelled at the poor man.

“Well, perhaps, we could use some sort of help” Detective West said.

“Like what?” the mermaids asked.

“Your fellow comrades?” the detective suggested.

“Impossible! They are weak, they don’t like to murder” Veridia replied.

“You could also use human help” Detective West said. Veridia sat dramatically in the office chair as she gave a sigh and turned to look uninterested at the investigation board. Her eyes darted from one criminal to the other, most of them labeled under “solved” or “dead” … until they rested on two names.

“Raiden and Diablo…” she muttered with interest as she read them. Veridia got up from the chair to take a closer look on the boys´ crimes.

**“Thief’s of the gang ‘Blade Boys’; known for being good trackers; no confirmed kills have been made by them. Last seen near the Turtle Beach Resort”**

The mermaid let out a cold chuckle.

“Officer… I’ve got an idea”

* * *

 

About two hours later, in an abandoned were house near the beach area, two teenage boys stood in some boxes practicing martial arts moves. Although their behavior looked careless and bored, the two of them were quite into it. One of them looked Hispanic, the other, Italian.

“You know, Wolfboy…” the Italian looking one said as he did a back-flip and landed on the floor.

“Voltage, I swear, if you say ‘do you ever’ one more time, I will kill you” the Hispanic one said while glaring at his partner.

“Well then, what do you want me to talk about? The movies? Chicks? School?” Voltage asked.

“You know? The last one actually sound appealing” Wolfboy muttered. Voltage made a disgusted face.

“Really?” he said. Wolfboy simply shrugged.

“Dunno, maybe” the Hispanic said with indifference. There was silence while Voltage stared at his friend for a while, trying to study him.

“Do you ever miss it?” he finally asked. Wolfboy growled.

“I know what you said, calm down!” Voltage said quickly while putting his arms up in surrender. “Yezz, you need to stop watching werewolf movies, you just sounded like one! Just let me finish, _per favore_?”

“Fine” Wolfboy said after giving away the most dramatic sigh ever.

“Do you ever miss… you know… the other life?” Voltage asked, staring at his feet.

“You mean the life we abandoned to become wanted teenagers?”

“No, I mean the other life in which I was a merman prince with lightning powers and you were an animal shape shifter that had a furry little problem” Voltage’s voice was filled with sarcasm. “Yes, the life we abandoned to become wanted teenagers”

“Why would I miss it? My father died, and the woman who had called herself ‘mum’ rejected me” Wolfboy muttered. He looked at his partner. “Why are you asking that?”

Voltage shrugged. Wolfboy’s bright amber eyes narrowed.

“Raiden” he said, calling Voltage by his real name. “I know you better than anyone, and if you are asking me that question is because something about is bothering you”

Raiden seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, but before he could answer his friend, the sound of a gun being loaded caught both teenagers attention.

“DUCK!” Wolfboy managed to yell before the bullets started raining over. The two boys managed to hide behind a metal desk and cover their ears as the metal projectiles of death made a concert behind their hiding spot.

“How much you wanna bet it’s the cops?!” Raiden yelled to Wolfboy as the dared to look behind the desk. Indeed, about twenty police officers were the ones responsible for the shooting. He pulled back just in time to prevent a bullet from making a nice clean hole in his head.

“I don’t think a bet will be necessary!” Wolfboy yelled back as his eyes searched desperately for a way out. They landed on a hole on the wall he hadn’t seen while they were practicing their moves. Wolfboy gestured it to Raiden.

“We’re gonna have to be like the Flash. We only have ten seconds before they recharge the guns” he said.  Raiden didn’t argue. In any other situation, they would have stayed and used the ten seconds to their advantage with their weapons, but as fate would have it, in that moment, both teenagers were weapon-less.

After what it seemed to be an eternity, the gunfire stopped. Voltage and Wolfboy quickly leaped of their feet and, ignoring the surprised gasps from the police (along with the joyful “THEY STILL LIVE?!” and “SHOOT THEM!”) made a run for the hole. They managed to go through and run a few meters before a few cops decided to give them chase…. With guns.

“Let’s have a bit of time off, Diablo. It will be fun!” Wolfboy said imitating Raidens voice as they ran in a zigzag pattern across abandoned chairs, tables…amongst other stuff. Strangely, the cops chasing them had not used their newly fully charged guns as they gave chase.

“HEY! We _were_ having fun until _this_ happened!” Raiden snapped back as he jumped over a table. Even if they were running for their lives, Voltage heard Diablo snicker. But then, he heard his partner give a gigantic gasp of horror. For a moment Raiden feared his friend had been hit by a bullet, and he risked turning around to see, but the only sight he got was one of Diablo looking ahead. Confused, Raiden turned to look upfront again and he nearly gave the same gasp of horror.

Ahead of them there was a wall.

A dead end.

They stopped running to avoid crashing into the bricks. Both teens turned around, the cops closing in on them, guns still raised.

“Wolfboy, how are we going to get out of this one?” Raiden asked. Diablo´s usual devilish smirk turned into one of thought.

“We could let them arrest us and knock them over before they put on the handcuffs” he proposed.

“There are about eight cops” Voltage hissed.

“So?”

“‘So?!’ We can’t win against eight cops!”

“We could last time”

“Last time included a gun and electrical wires”

“Well, boohoo. I’m out of ideas”

“Well, well, now what do we have here” a woman’s voice took presence in the scene. Wolfboy and Voltage forgot about their bickering. In front of them, there were not eight, but TWENTY cops with guns raised and pointing at them. Standing in the middle, there was a woman rounding her thirties and dressed with a blue dress. She had a somewhat kind smile that gave Raiden the creeps.

“Congratulations! You two have passed my test!” the woman said. The teens shared a glance.

“Test?  Lady, this was not a test! It was probably the worst prank given by the police!” Diablo said, clutching his fists. The woman simply smiled even wider, to the point that it seemed forced.

“Oh, believe me, it was. I had to make sure you two could survive heavy machinery and obstacles, and you passed! And for passing, you get a gift!” she said.

“A gift?” Raiden wondered aloud. The woman nodded.

“That’s right, a gift. You will get to make me a favor!” she said cheerful. Raiden narrowed his eyes. He didn’t trust that woman. He could basically smell the crazy from her. It didn’t take a genius to figure that Diablo had the same opinion as him.

“Listen. We are, er, grateful that we passed your test and that you convinced your buddy cops not to shot us, but we have better things to do” Diablo said. The woman’s smile faded, a hard cold stare replacing it.

“I’m sorry, but when did I ever say that the two of you had an option?” she said. She raised her hand and a pain unfamiliar to Raiden and Diablo made them kneel before her against their will.

“I will repeat this one more time, _you_ passed my test _. You_ will do my deed” she said.

“And if we simply refuse?” Raiden dared to ask. The woman narrowed her eyes and a sly smile took over her face.

“Oh, sweetie” she said as she lifted the boys chin so his purple eyes could meet her blue ones. “Who said anything about being able to refuse?”

“Woman… you’re crazy” Diablo spat.

“I’m not crazy. I’m Veridia, your new boss, who simply needs your help in finding and killing someone” she said. Before Raiden and Diablo could say something, Veridia opened her mouth and a sweet hypnotic melody reached their ears.

It was be the last thing they remembered before darkness took over.


	18. Where He Is

The Mako Gang, now along with Aquata, Carly, Erik and David, were seated on the couch of the former’s living room, letting the information that Rita shared with them an hour ago sink in. To Mimmi, it made things have a lot more sense than before, and most of her questions were finally answered.

Now, she wished she knew where Zac was. This brand new information could help him in so many ways.

“We need to find Zac. ASAP” Cam said.

“Genius, Cam, like we haven’t thought about it” Carly said.

“But Cam is right. Now is even more vital that we find him” Ondina said.

“One small problem: We have no idea where on earth and ocean Zac is” Erik pointed out.

“I wish the police attack hadn’t damaged my phone” Evie lamented. “He had called me, and I was about to warn him about Veridia when ‘puff!’ the call and the phone died”

“Zac never told where he was?” Carly asked. Evie shook her head.

“No, and in the note he left me, he implies that I know where to find him” she said. Silence fell upon them.

“What was the clue?” Aquata asked, curious.

“ _‘The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else’s lake’_. It’s the first lyrics to a song” Evie said. Carly hummed the familiar tune.

“Well, he’s probably at a place with a lake” Sirena suggested.

“Yeah, and there are at least a thousand places with lakes around Australia. It’s probably more than _just_ a lake” Cam said.

“Then it must be a place of significant importance to him” Rita said. “Somewhere where he probably felt at peace, a place where he could think and relax and not worry about being bothered”

“We call that the ocean” Mimmi interjected. The other merpeople nodded in agreement.

“Hang on-” Evie said. Everybody turned to look at her. “-A place in which he could not be bothered…” she repeated Rita’s words as she got up from the couch and started pacing on the carpet.

“Seaweed… greener… lake… bothered… relax… not worry…” Evie muttered the words like a mantra. The others looked at her, holding their breaths.

Suddenly, Evie stopped pacing, eyes wide.

“OF COURSE!” she yelled. She turned to look at Cam, Carly and David.

“Coffs Harbour” she said, a victory grin on her face. In return, the others mouth’s dropped.

“The camp” Cam said, eyes wide.

“Er… what? What camp? What’s Coffs Harbour? Mimmi asked.

“When we were eleven years old, we were all supposed to go to a summer camp” Evie started to explain. “But, Cam, Carly, David and I caught a last minute flu, and Zac ended going all on his own. When he came back he told us that he hated it being there without us, and also because not much of the kids in there were anything but nice” she took a deep breath before continuing. “Zac latter confided in me that on the camp he found a little entrance to a huge cave… that led to a lake with a really green seaweed that had been washed over there after a storm. He liked it there. He even told me that he would take me there the next year”

“Which didn’t happen, because the camp closed” Carly finished.

“All right, now we know where he is, so why are we still sitting here?” Erik said, starting to get up. However, he forgot about his injury, and quickly dropped back to the couch clutching his side.

“Stupid merman” Ondina muttered with a small smile. He gave her an offended look.

“You hurt me” he said.

“Can we cut the romance for a moment?” Mimmi asked. Erik and Ondina blushed.

“Thank you” Mimmi said. She turned to look at Evie. “How do we get to Coffs Harbour?”

* * *

 

_“Hello, you have reached the phone of Captain Greg West. I can’t take your call right now, so please, leave a message”_

Marissa sighed as the voice mail repeated itself for the third time in less than five minutes. She was starting to get worried.

 “Anything yet?” Amanda’s voice asked from the kitchen.

“Nope” Marissa answered as she entered the kitchen. Amanda was currently mixing something on a bowl while eyeing a piece of paper. “Are you making my grandmother´s cookies?” Marissa asked once she took a closer look to the paper. Amanda nodded.

“Your uncle still won’t answer?” she asked the brunette.

“Yeah, and I’m starting to get worried. It’s normal from him not to answer right away… but not answering for nearly twenty four hours? Now that’s not normal” Marissa said.

“Especially considering the fact that he hasn’t noticed we went to the beach house without his permission” Amanda retorted as she stopped mixing and gestured to her surroundings.

“Yeah, not my best move at being rebellious. I have already accepted that I’ll be grounded for a month” Marissa said. “But when you and Gigi arrived, he did say we could go here”

“Yeah, and yesterday you two started arguing about it on the phone” her friend reminded her.

“Details” Marissa said. Amanda rolled her eyes and continued mixing the cookie dough.

“Guys!” Gigi said as she entered the kitchen with her laptop on her arms and took a seat besides Marissa. “You won’t believe what I just found” she said.

“A Harry Potter fan-fiction?”  Amanda asked with a sly smile. Gigi rolled her eyes.

“I wish.  But no” she said as she opened the computer. “I really couldn’t stop thinking about the guy we meet at the beach and what you said after Marissa, you know, about the missing guy” the younger teen said. “So I used the magical beauty that is Google and look what I found” Gigi said as she allowed Marissa and Amanda to see the screen. A news title announced: **Runaway Teen**. Under it, a picture of the guy the girls meet at the beach was smiling at them, the name Zac Blakely next to it.

“Oh my god… we actually just found a guy who ran away from home” Amanda whispered. Gigi eagerly nodded.

“Yeah! And it’s the same case Mr. West is working on! Maybe the reason he’s not answering his phone is because he’s looking for this guy” the young teen said.

“There’s a number to call if someone has seen him” Amanda said while looking at her friends a bit uncertain. “We should call, right? His family must be worried sick”

Marissa frowned.

“Yeah… but as much as I would like to help my uncle…” she started to say. Her American friends looked at her with confusion written on their faces. Marissa looked at them.

“We should find him first. When people run away, is because of a reason” she said. Amanda gaped at her like a fish. Gigi simply raised an eyebrow. And before the two could argue, Marissa was already at the front door, waiting for them with a smile and determination on her face.

* * *

 

“Okay, so it’s a three hour ride from here-” Cam said as he showed a point in a map that read ‘Gold Coast’. “-To Coffs Harbour” he finished as he trailed with his finger to the name of the city.

“We’ve got the camp directions” Evie said as she and Carly emerged from a room with another map.

“What are we going to tell our parents?” David asked.

“Hi mum, hi dad, sorry, but I won’t be able to make to dinner time because I’m going to Coffs Harbour to find and get Zac back” Cam said with a smirk. Carly and Ondina slapped him on the back of his head.

“You’re not telling them that” Ondina said.

“I’m sorry, but do you prefer: ‘We are going to get Zac back because there’s a crazy mermaid who wants him dead because he is the son of the most powerful mermaid to ever live’?” Cam asked. Carly put up her hands in a surrounding manner.

“I’m just saying that we are gonna have to come up with an excuse. And a pretty believable one” she said.

“We can all go in my car. Is going to be a bit tight in space, but we will all fit” David said. The rest nodded, except for Aquata.

“About that…” she said trailing off.

“What’s wrong?” Sirena asked. Her older sister let out a sigh.

“I think is better of me to go back to the pod” she said.

“Why?” Evie asked.

“Listen, I don’t know how exactly Veridia thinks, but if by any chance her plan fails and she thinks that she can somehow manipulate the pod into helping her kill your friend, I can try to dissuade the pod. Tell them the truth” Aquata explained.

“And you think it could work? I mean, they believe you’re dead” Erik pointed out. Aquata smiled.

“Believe me, after Veridia, I’m one of the mermaids with the ability to bring some sense into the pod” she said. Sirena hummed in agreement.

“But, what about your injury?” Rita asked. Aquata showed her leg injury, which now was close to becoming a scar.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore” Aquata said with a little smile.

“Merpeople heal faster than humans?” Carly asked with wonder in her voice.

“If it gets treated well and there’s water involved, then yes” Mimmi confirmed.

“Which means that in at least two days I’ll be good as new” Erik said with a little smile while looking at Ondina, who simply rolled her eyes.

“All right then. You go back, and we will bring Zac back. Piece of cake” Cam said as they all started walking to the garage.

“We still don’t know what we will tell our parents…” Evie said trailing off.

“I hate to say it, but we don’t have time to come up with excuses” Rita said. “Our priority right now is to find Zac and warn him of the danger he is in. Yes, most of you will probably be grounded for life for this stunt, and I’ll probably lose my job for allowing my students to do this on my watch. But we don’t have another choice, if Veridia actually gets her hands on Zac… I will never forgive myself, and Nerissa, wherever she is, will never forgive me either” the older mermaid finished her explanation.

“Boy, this better be worth it” Carly muttered. David opened the door to the garage and guided everyone else to the red Lexus Minivan that he owned.

Sirena and Aquata stayed behind going towards the garden, walking to the canal. They both stopped on the edge of the wooden planks, admiring for a bit the water below.

“Promise me you will be careful, little sister” Aquata said turning to look at Sirena. She gave her a sad little smile.

“Only if you promise to do the same” Sirena replied. Aquata laughed a little and hugged her tenderly, her little sister returning the gesture.

“Good luck” Sirena said.

“Same to you” Aquata replied. “And say hi to your friend Zac on my behalf, I do believe the last time I saw him, I swam away in terror” she added with a little laugh. Sirena nodded, sharing the laugh with her older sister. Aquata then jumped towards the water, Sirena barely having time to acknowledge her tail before a fit of bubbles made their way on the water.

Sirena then turned away and started walking fast back to the house to meet her friends and start the new journey.

However, if she had stayed a little longer, she would have seen two teenage boys with magenta eyes watching her with interest from one the houses.

“Miss Veridia, did you see that?” Raiden asked his new boss.

 _“Indeed”_ replied the voice of the mermaid.

“What are your orders?” Diablo asked. The other line went silent for a while.

_“Follow the girl walking to the house. Seems to me that I’ll finally get the answer to the question: ‘Where is Nerissa´s son?’”_


	19. Ex-machina moment

“Are we there yet?”

Evie and nearly everyone else on the car had to suppress a sigh of annoyance as Ondina repeated the question for umpteenth time in less than an hour after they had left the beautiful city of Gold Coast towards Coffs Harbour. Even David, who could receive a Guinness world record for his patience, was about to lose it. The only two who seemed not to break were Rita and Erik.

“Be a bit more patient, Ondina. As I told you last time, is a three-hour ride” David said, eyes locked on the road. Behind him, Carly and Cam gave each other a look.

“$10 bucks that next time she repeats the question, someone makes an _‘Incredibles’_ reference” Cam whispered.

“You’re on” Carly accepted with a smirk.

Mimmi, who was sitting by the window, turned her attention outside. She was aware that she needed to apologize to Zac for not respecting his space for the whole reveal, while also wondering what he was doing.

Had he gone on daily swims to clear his head, just like she did?

Had he wondered about their mother? Family?

Mimmi just hoped he hadn’t been foolish enough to reveal his tail to a human. From the three months she had been on land, she knew Zac was not an idiot and knew how to be careful, but if by chance they found him in a position like that, she was sure Ondina and Cam were not going to let him hear the end of it.

Little that Mimmi knew, fate had different plans, and a sudden vision that took over her seemed to confirm it.

* * *

 

“Whoa! Hold on a second!” Amanda said as she and Gigi ran to meet Marissa. “We can’t just run into a person and say ‘I know you are this dude who ran away from home’! We don’t even know where he’s staying! Or if he wants to be found” she added.

“I agree with her on this one” Gigi said.

“Come on girls, I know a little about running away. And if this guy had a good one, I’m not telling my uncle” Marissa said, not slowing down her pace.

“Are you also implying that people have bad reasons for running away?” Amanda asked with skepticism. “Unless you’re counting murder or kidnapping or drug trafficking or anything else that goes against the law, that is.”

“No… well, kind of… I’m just saying that this guy, Zac, could have escaped for a personal reason or somehow other reason. If it’s a personal reason that makes sense, I’m not telling. If not, I got my phone ready”

“I can’t believe this” Gigi muttered as they made it to Coffs Harbour main shopping plaza as Amanda went to inspect a town map.

“Okay, so I chased Gigi from the main beach to this little parchment of land-” the girl said mostly to herself. “I’m not Sherlock, but either he came from the beach houses at the east or somewhere to the west”

“I vote in favor of the west. It’s more deserted” Gigi said as she joined Amanda at looking at the map. “Huh, maybe he found inspiration in Wicked” she said, letting out a giggle.

“I don’t think this guy was listening to ‘Defying Gravity’ while looking where to stay” Amanda said, diverting her attention from the map for a second just to give a skeptical look to the youngest of the group. Gigi simply shrugged and turned to look at Marissa, who looked thoughtful.

“Whatcha thinking?” she asked.

“Thinking of reasons on why would someone would run away without breaking the law” she simply said.

“Well, there’s the obvious: not happy with the family life, home abuse…” Gigi said as she counted with her fingers.

“He didn’t look like a victim of abuse to me, at least physical” Marissa said.

“I agree with Marissa there” Amanda said, eyes still glued on the map as she took out her phone and started taking pictures. “But I also doubt psychological… I’m not an expert, but I believe psychological abuse victims are emotional unstable, have low self-esteem… lest not forget depression” She turned back from the map and together the three friends started walking towards the beach. “But now that I think about it, he did look a bit depressed”

“Thanks Amanda, which leads me to think of another reason for running away” Marissa said.

“Which will be…?” Gigi asked.

“Shock” Marissa said.

“Shock?” Amanda repeated, eyebrows furred in confusion. “How does shock apply to running away?”

Marissa was silent for a minute, a look of sorrow on her face.

“I remember when my mother died, the first thing that I did when they told me the news was to run away from the school grounds. I didn’t have a destination in mind, but I didn’t want anyone talking to me” she said softly. “It’s like you want to run away from the truth”

“Okay, we take your word for it” Amanda said solemn. “So when we find him you’ll know what to say? Or at least recognize?”

“Depends on what he spills, but yeah” Marissa said. “We just need to find him”

“About that” Gigi cut in while she also stopped walking. The older girls turn to look at her, also stopping. “I don’t think we will have trouble finding him. In fact, I don’t even think we’ll need those map pictures or a walk on the west side of the beach”

“Why are you saying that?” Marissa asked, tiding her head to the side. Gigi simply pointed behind them. Amanda and Marissa turned around.

A few meters away from them, Zac Blakely stood staring at the ocean.

“Well, guy that we are looking for suddenly appearing _ex-machina_ ” Amanda said to no one in particular.


End file.
